Strings of Reality
by Arait
Summary: A group of teenage boys try to save the world from a seven foot lobster. Roxas has to go back to Organization XIII and explain why he left, but can he withstand the pull of the darkness? First couple chapters are odd, but bear with it. Fear the green hole
1. Prologue

Yays, a new story for me. Please bear with it for the first few chapters because they're gonna sound really strange at first. But as soon as people start explaining what's going on, I think you'll all like it.

* * *

There are many blessings that come with working from your home. You can spend more time with your family and your friends, and you can pick your own schedule…everyone knows them. However, there are plenty of downfalls that go along with working at home, such as staying up to three in the morning on a Saturday night while all your friends are out playing because you felt "inspired." That is how it was one dark night (for not all nights are truly dark).

Fiction writer Celia Rees had just climbed into bed after a twenty page blitz in her most recent story, even adding a new protagonist character. The soft glow of her computer screen still lit up her study, attracting her grey tabby cat. The door, which was normally left closed, had a crack just large enough for little Fluffy to get through. Fluffy hopped up on the desk, mindlessly expecting to absorb the heat of the light. As she circled to prepare to lie down on the keyboard, Fluffy stepped on random keys before casually plopping to one side against the monitor.

As the screen woke up, she leapt off the keyboard, but flashing across the screen read: "ACCESS GRANTED," accompanied by a perpetual beeping.


	2. chapter 1 I'm bond, Lionel bond

Okay, here's chapter one. The beginning of the really weird, Tiara is scitzofrenic, part. Btw, if any of you have an idea for a better title or name for the land of Fiction (right now just known as Fiction-land) please let me know.

Okay, read on.

* * *

I woke up to a similar beeping, that of my digital alarm clock. I rolled over and slammed my hand down on the snooze button even though I knew I had an appointment to make across town that morning. A moment later, I forced myself out of bed, not perfectly put together already like the movie characters we all wished we were. My hair was a mess, and I still couldn't find the dress slacks I wanted to wear. Five minutes late, as always, I ran downstairs, grabbed a banana and a cup of coffee, kissed my dad, and hurried out the door.

My younger sister Dusty called after me, "Aren't you gonna take me to school?"

I stopped for a second. "Are you ready?"

"Almost."

"All right. Get in the car," I gave in, as always. A couple minutes later, she ran out the door barefoot and jumped into the seat next to me. As I backed out of the driveway, she was putting on her Airwalks and eyeliner at the same time. I knew Dad would think it was too dark, but I didn't mind. We pulled onto the main road in my little, blue, economy car, and neither of us thought one bit about the black pick-up that pulled out behind me. Dusty and I bickered a little about what music to listen to, or whether Mom like the shirt on the lady next to us—only normal things—as I sped up to make it past a yellow light. Neither of us noticed the two Mexicans in the black truck behind us who purposefully ran the red light to stay on our tail.

"Are you gonna pick me up after school?" Dusty wondered, as I turned off the main road. The Mexicans followed.

"No," I answered, adjusting my mirror so I could see them better. Their creepy faces made me think, "_kidnappers, child molesters, bank robbers!_ but I quickly shook that off. Being a fiction writer, sometimes my wild imagination would take over. Figuring they just lived in the area, I finished, "I have to work."

She gave me her best pouty face, so I ordered, "No, don't give me those Puss eyes. I can't give in, and you know it. This money's for your graduation present."

"Yeah, so you make Mom and Dad buy you new clothes."

"Shut up," I laughed, pushing her a little. It made me the slightest bit too late to take my next turn, and Dusty mocked me by screaming as we took it sharply. We both should have laughed at that, but I didn't because I was watching the pick-up as it followed us, dangerously cutting in front of another car.

Dusty say me staring at them in my mirror, so she asked, "Do you think they're following us?"

"Let's see," I replied, making a quick u-turn and pulling back up to the intersection. They also made a u-turn. I turned right at the stop sign, and they once again came close to hitting someone to stay behind me.

"You're going away from the school," Dusty reminded.

"Did you want me to drop you off, so I could fend for myself against the Mexicans with my karate chop moves?" I questioned.

"No," she insisted.

"That's what I though…hold on!" I warned, making another quick right turn.

"Circle the block every three blocks, don't stop at any red lights, and never use turn signals," Dusty told me, quoting from the TV series Alias.

I laughed a little as I took her suggestion and circled the block instead of going straight. Still, the Mexicans followed. Sooner than I expected, I was lost from all the random turning I did, yet the truck was able to keep up. After not too long, we ended up in an abandoned subdivision that was under construction. Dusty continued to shout out to me random directions to turn, until there were big rocks on the road, and all I could do was choose the least damaging direction.

We were bouncing up and down uncontrollably, and I swerved around trying not to drive over any that could pop my tires. Suddenly, we heard a POP! My engine sputtered and died.

"What the muffin!" I shouted, banging my head repeatedly on the horn.

"Did you break it?" Dusty exclaimed.

"I dunno."

"Well, are you outta gas?"

"I don't know…Just lock the doors, and grab something sharp," I commanded, deciding we best prepare to be attacked by the Mexicans, but they just drove by, waving cheerfully. Both our jaws dropped in disbelief.

After a moment of shocked silence, I pulled out my cell phone, and Dusty asked, "Who'ya callin'?"

"Mom and Dad to see if they can come pick us up," I responded, but a second later I tossed it to the floor, stating, "I have no service."

Dusty, grumpily looking around for another solution, noticed something in the field out her window and asked, "Hey Tiara, is that a pay phone?"

"I doubt it. Do you want me to go check it out?"

"Yeah."

I opened my door and climbed out of my car with a handful of change, hoping that thing out there was a working pay phone. Cautiously, I worked my way through the field. My author instinct was kicking up again, causing me to psyche myself our about every possible option. When I finally reached it, however—after examining it top to bottom on all sides—I came to the conclusion that it was an average highway tollbooth. Only this tollbooth was smaller and purple.

Forcing myself to think no more than, _That's a bit strange,_ I walked through it to get back to the car. When I made it through to the other side, though, I noticed there was no longer a field and my car but instead the room of a Renaissance castle with a telephone in the corner. Using the telephone was a blonde, British lady who I could have sworn I'd seen in a James Bond movie. The only problem with that was she was pregnant and had three children running around her feet.

I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't imagining this and then kindly asked, "How much longer do you think you'll be using that phone?"

"Do I look like I'm using that phone?" She demanded harshly.

"Yes," I replied unsurely.

"Well, I'm not."

"Could I use it then?"

"No."

"Why not?" I wondered.

"Because I'm using it." She really drew out the "Iiiiii'mm." A second later she continued, "Plus, the call I'm expecting is very important. I'm guarding the phone for someone top secret. If I let you use it, I may have to kill you. Out with you then."

I turned to leave, happy to go, but the tollbooth demanded I pay 50 cents before it would let me pass. Confused, I complied and then rushed back to the car, anxious to get away from the tollbooth.

When I sat back in the driver's seat, Dust said, "I suppose you didn't get a hold of Mom and Dad out there."

"Why do you say that?" I asked, wondering how she knew already.

"'Cuz they just called on your phone, which 'doesn't work,'" she answered sarcastically. "What took you so long just standing there anyways?"

"Do you remember that weird book we read a long time ago, The Phantom Tollbooth?"

"Yeah."

"I think that was the tollbooth."

"What do you mean? Like THE tollbooth, or just a tollbooth."

"The tollbooth," I answered.

"No way. You're crazy. I always knew you made things up."

"No, I'm serious! For a moment there, I wasn't in the field."

"Whatever. Just like the Mexicans were following us."

It was hours later. My car had been towed, Dusty was at school, and I was back home. I had already called to reschedule my appointment and tell my boss I couldn't come in. With all that extra time, I had nothing better to do than sit down and write some more in my most recent book I was writing. I wasn't sure what I would call it yet, but it was the third in a series about a Japanese boy in high school who was also a detective. His name was Takeshi, but that meant bamboo tree, so everyone knew him as Nori. He was always able to figure out the really hard cases, and still finish most of his homework, except for one. His best friend Chiyo had been kidnapped—though he thought she was dead—and he could never find the "scoundrels who did it."

He had come close before, but the problem was that I didn't know who had done it. Every time I tried to find Chiyo, I got writer's block. It was just so much easier to figure out the other cases. I was trying really hard to figure out what I was going to do about her when I heard the doorbell ring.

"I'll get it," I called through the house, thankful for a break. I also knew that wherever my parents were, I was closer to the door.

Without thinking twice I flung the door open. I watched as the black pick-up truck drove by, after which my eyes came to rest on the figure that stood in our doorway. He was like nothing I'd ever seen before. A long, dark, hooded cloak covered most of the tall, lengthy figure. Softly glowing blue eyes stood out the most in his face, followed by a long, curly, Confucius moustache. In his right hand, he held a came, but his left hand wasn't a hand at all. It was a lobster claw, bright blue at the wrist and gradually getting darker at the tips.

I stood there in complete shock. That was the third absolutely insane thing to happen to me that day. Was I becoming schizophrenic, or did these creatures really exist? I started to close the door, but he put his cane in the door to stop me.

Pushing the door open and entering the house, he demanded, "Aren't you going to invite me in?"

I backed away from him nervously, without saying a word.

Mom came into the entryway, asking, 'Who is it Sweetie?"

The man threw back his hood, revealing his shoulder length, black hair, narrow face, and pointed chin. Mom gasped when she saw the claw and the dark blue color of his skin. I was actually relieved to hear her gasp because it meant I wasn't the only person seeing him. Ignoring out silent stares, the creature gestured to the couches in our living room using his claw hand.

As if he were the host, he questioned, "Shall we sit?"

Mom and I obeyed at once, sitting together on one couch and trying to consume enough space that he would have to sit on the other. He casually made his way to the second couch, carefully pulling his cloak to one side before gently sitting down.

After another awkward moment, he mentioned, "Will there be drinks?" It was at that moment I realized that his voice did seem raspy.

Mom was immediately to her feet again to get drinks. From the look on her face, I could tell she would also be getting Dad. I did not want to stay there by myself with him, but I didn't have much of a choice. I glanced nervously around the room, trying not to look directly at him. I was very scared that his might actually be real.

Randomly, he demanded, "What is your name?"

"Tiara," I responded insecurely. "What's yours?"

"Doesn't matter," he replied harshly.

"That's a sad name." I was testing my limits, to see what I could get away with.

He acted like he might rip my head off, but then he clamed himself and answered, "Lionel."

I tried not to let him see that I felt that name didn't really fit his character, and when I felt like the silence was creeping up again, I inquired, 'Where'd you get the claw?"

"Don't ask stupid questions like that!" He shouted. Then, a second later he asked, "You have a computer?"

"Yeah," I replied, thinking to myself, _Don't ask stupid questions like that._

Before I could ask why he wanted to know, Mom came back with the drinks. She handed one to each of us and then sat back down on the couch. Only a second later, Dad came into the living room. He had his arms crossed and was trying to look tough for us. I could still tell he was scared, though.

After he tried to build the tension higher than it was, Dad asked in a voice lower than his really was, "What is it you want from us?"

The man finished drinking the water and crushed the glass in his claw. "I'm looking for a friend."

"What?" Was how all of us instantly replied.

Dad continued, "We know someone you know?"

Fidgeting with a knick-knack he found on our coffee table, the man explained, "I know someone I expect you can find. "Then he touched my cheek with his claw, "Darling."

I shivered, but managed to ask, "You want me to find someone for you?...Who?"

"I want you to find Tia Dalma…and your parents' lives depend upon it."

I looked him in the face for the first time because I was so shocked. "Tia Dalma, as in Pirates of the Caribbean Tia Dalma?"

"There is only one Tia Dalma," he answered, standing up and walking over to my dad. He was at least a foot taller than Dad, so he did well at intimidating us when he rested his claw on Dad's shoulder and asked, "Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

I gulped, nodded, and ran out of the house as quickly as I could.


	3. Chapter 2 Abandoned in a ditch

I would like to thank my first reviewer kateracks for getting me on my way.

I guess it's time to start with this disclaimer stuff. I do not own any of the characters in my story. If I did this wouldn't be on fanfiction. I don't even own myself for heavens sake because I never paid one bit for the possesion of me. I don't know if anyone does own me, but I certainly don't. So I'm sorry in advance for offending anyone, and I would like to take this moment to thank everyone who has ever voluntarily or involutarily donated their characters to my cause. Thank you.

Now read on:

* * *

When it came to Pirates of the Caribbean questions, there was no doubt in where to turn: Rebecca Cherie Anderson—more commonly known as Becca or Chopped Liver. She was my best friend and loved helping me brainstorm. The problem with asking her to help was that she was still in school. By the time I got to her house, I still had to wait 30 minutes before she would be home. Her dad was on the couch, playing video games, so I decided to join him to pass the time.

The instant Becca walked through the front door, however, I was at her side. "Oh my God Becca! I so need to talk to you!"

"About what?" She asked.

"Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh," Becca's mom countered, "she has to finish her homework and her cores fist."

"Before she talks to me?" I complained. "But Mrs. Anderson, lives are at stake!"

"There are no exceptions. Whatever you have to say can wait until she's finished with what she has to do."

"Did you hear me? Lives! My parents' lives!"

Becca patted my back. "It's all right. I'll be done in an hour."

"Can I at least use your internet?"

"Sure," Becca agreed, and her mom didn't argue. I walked over to the computer and dialed up the internet, hoping I could find the email address of the lady who played Tia Dalma and send her an email asking if she knew this crazy man. As soon as I got online, however, a pop-up took over half the screen.

"NEWSFLASH!" It announced, "The real King Kong is at this very moment hanging off the edge of the real Empire State building! Click here to watch live video feed. This is not a hoax. It is the real King Kong!"

I quickly exited out of the window, knowing it was just spam. All of those things were. Then, I set about finding the actress' email address. I still hadn't found it an hour later when Becca came out of her room in a pink nightgown and slippers.

"I still have to do the dishes," she stated, approaching me, "but if you rinse, we can talk."

I followed her to the kitchen, explaining to her everything that had happened and how I needed to find Tia Dalma as quickly as possible to save my parents. She thought it was funny at first but quickly realized the seriousness of the problem.

"Well, what are you going to do?" Becca asked.

"I don't know. I was hoping you might have some ideas…and from the way that guy was acting, I'm pretty sure he wanted the real Tia Dalma, and not just some lady who dressed up like her."

"Tia Dalma doesn't exist, Tiara, and if she did, it was like three or four hundred years ago. I don't think she's alive anymore."

"And even if she was, I don't think we'd have time to find her—or time to find a time machine and bring her back from the past—man, I don't think we even have time to fly to California and convince the actor to dress up like her again."

Becca handed me another dish. "Well don't think of the things we can't do. What could we do? Could you dress up as her? At least long enough to delay him."

"Probably not…Do I look like I'm black? And why on Earth did he choose me to find her? It has to have something to do with my computer, I know it, but everyone in America has a computer. You have a computer. Tia Dalma probably has a computer! Why me?" I asked, sliding to the floor.

"Did you try calling the police?" Becca inquired, joining me on the floor. "They might be able to help."

"The police? Come on Becca, do you really think they would believe me? There's a seven foot tall lobster that's kidnapped my parents sitting in my living room."

We both sighed, and Becca continued, "Well, I don't know what to do." I closed my eyes for a moment, but then Becca started tapping my shoulder persistently, saying, "Tiara…Tiara, I think I solved your problem." I opened my eyes and saw what Becca had been talking about.

"Yu're lookin' fer me?" Asked a lady in front of us with a crooked smile. It was the same crooked smile, rotted teeth, torn dress, and Jamaican accent that Tia Dalma had. She had literally just appeared in front of us!

"There's no way to doubt you now," Becca mentioned, slightly hinting that she hadn't entirely believed me before.

"Tia Dalma," I asked, "is that really you?"

"There's only one Tia Dalma Lass," she replied.

And standing next to her was… "Nori? Oh my God, it's Nori, Becca." I ran up to him and grabbed his shoulders, fiddled with his hair, and every possible embarrassing thing I could have done to make sure he was real.

It suddenly dawned on me that Nori was a fictional character, that he was in no way acquainted with anyone who even slightly resembled Tia Dalma, and that the person I was currently hugging was probably not him. Embarrassed, I stopped and asked, "You are Nori aren't you?"

"Yeah," he answered unsurely.

I fingered his hair and touched his cheeks, thinking, _Of course it's Nori. Why would someone else's life sized anime character be walking about my best friend's house?_ That made me sound really crazy, didn't it?

He gave a really weird look to Tia Dalma, and then said, "But I don't know you."

"This is amazing!" I exclaimed, completely ignoring what he said. "You're exactly how I imagined you!"

He glanced at Tia Dalma again. "Why are you imagining me?"

"I created you," I answered.

Slowly, his lips curled into one of those anime smiles, as he threw his arms around me and kissed my nose. "You know I've waited my entire life to meet you? Wow!...Like…what's your name?"

"Tiara," I replied.

"Cool, it's not something stupid like Samantha. I know someone named Tiara. My name's Nori, Takeshi Nori Kyoko…but then you knew that already. Is there anything about me you don't know?" Then, he turned back to Tia Dalma. "Look Tia, it's my author! This is why you brought me here, isn't it?"

"No," Tia Dalma chuckled mysteriously, "she don' need yur help. She need my help, an' I nee' yur help."

Nori was immediately confused again. "Then, why are we here?"

"She need to know we here. Come now." She turned to leave.

"Are you going to my house?" I asked curiously, thinking I would have to gather my things and come as well.

"Aye," she replied. It was a long second before she continued, "Bu' you cain't come."

I watched in confusion as she left and Nori reluctantly followed. It was easy to tell he had been hoping for more time with me and less time with the lobster guy—even though, I was pretty sure he didn't know what mission was waiting for him at my house. As soon as they were completely gone, Becca walked over and stood next to me.

After a second, she asked, "Did that really just happen?"

"I…think…so," I answered.

Not much was happening at my house when the doorbell rang again. The lobster guy peeked out the window between the blinds, and then gestured to Mom to open the door. She obeyed, and stared in shock as Tia Dalma and Nori entered the house. She hadn't recognized the name Tia Dalma when Lionel mentioned her, but now she remembered it was that lady who creeped her out. She still didn't recognize Nori, but she knew for sure anime people weren't real. It was not a very pleasant feeling to have three not-real people in her house. The lobster made her, though, so she complied.

Nori didn't feel any more comfortable than Mom did once he noticed Lionel. Recognizing the lobster-man immediately, Nori dropped his eyes to the floor, hoping the man wouldn't recognize him as well. At first, Lionel didn't, or at least pretended he didn't, acknowledging only Tia Dalma. He opened his arms like he intended to hug her.

"Tia Dalma," he greeted, "my worthy opponent. So the young lady did follow through."

Tia Dalma just walked by, slightly brushing his shoulder, hardly even mentioning, "Aye, she have." She began wandering around the living room, touching random objects that interested her. Eventually, she stopped, her interest peaked by Dad. She examined him thoroughly from head to toe, and then Lionel started again.

"Certainly, you've wondered why you are here."

Tia Dalma looked up curiously. "No."

Nori thought to himself, _But I want to know,_ but he didn't want to say anything.

"Well, I'll tell you anyway…" Lionel began.

"It's a test," Tia Dalma interrupted, showing she already knew his whole plan. It sounded more like, "Eez a tes."

"Yes it is," Lionel agreed, slightly phased that she knew that, "and you so kindly brought me my first victim." He grabbed Nori's arm in his claw, drawing him close to his side.

Nori glanced up at Tia Dalma with a worried look on his face. God, he hoped she knew what she was doing. She didn't seem bothered at all that Lionel had called him a victim. Maybe she was just putting up a front, but she was just standing there, silently asking, "So? What next?" Nori trusted her; he always had, but should he this time? He really wasn't sure.

The lobster man turned to Nori then, saying, "With everything you've done to me, this ought to be fun."

He threw Nori against a wall, who looked immediately to his arm which now had a cut all the way around it from the claw. Nori thought to run and started to, but Lionel stopped him with his cane. Pressing Nori back against the wall, he lifted Nori's chin with his claw. He smiled, chuckling slightly at the look of fear in Nori's eyes and then lifted him off the ground, choking him.

After a moment of Nori's squirming, Lionel fully explained to Tia Dalma—who knew already—"You are these people's queen they say. They'll do anything you ask, won't they?" Tia Dalma didn't respond, so he repeated, "Won't they?"

"Aye," she mentioned blandly, barely having moved from my dad's side.

"And they expect you to protect them because of it, don't they?"

"Aye."

Nori started banging on his arm, meaning he'd run out of air. A second later, Lionel threw him to the floor, closer to Tia Dalma than to himself, and stated, "Here's your choice: save your people, or save yourself."

Nori climbed up to his knees, but when Tia Dalma didn't make a move—or so much as flinch—Lionel smacked him on the back with his cane, knocking him back to the floor. Lionel hit him again, and again…Mom covered her eyes so she couldn't see it. Dad went to help Nori, a bit of his father instinct kicking in, but Tia stopped him from getting in the way. It didn't make sense to any of them why Tia Dalma wasn't doing anything about it.

Now, when Dusty had come home from school, Mom managed to sneak her upstairs without Lionel noticing she had entered the house. She hadn't left her room since, until she heard the ruckus downstairs. Dusty rushed halfway down the stairs, saw the lobster for the first time, and that he was beating Nori, and she ran back up to her room. It wasn't in fear, however, because lying on her bed was her cell phone. Quickly, she sent me a text message that read:

OMG T. The lobsters killin nori. com quik.

I got the message while I was still at Becca's house, trying to make sense of it all, and hoping whatever was happening would turn out well. Apparently, it wasn't all turning out well. In absolute horror, I stood up and grabbed the keys to her parents' car from the counter—mine was in the shop, and Tia Dalma had used the one I came in when she left.

"Come on Becca," I shouted, "we need to leave now!" I ran down the stairs, and as I opened the door to leave, I called back up, "Mrs. Anderson, I'm taking your car!" She was immediately at the top of the stairs, asking why as Becca joined me by the door. I grabbed Becca's hand and ran out, replying, "The lobster's killing Nori."

"What?" She asked, not understanding it at all, but Becca and I were gone.

Lionel stopped for a second, pulling Nori back to his knees and holding his face so Tia Dalma could clearly see it. "Look at his eyes, his pitiful eyes," he mocked, "begging, 'Why Tia? Please save me Tia.' Answer him Tia. Why won't you save him?"

She didn't reply; she hadn't even moved once. Lionel tossed Nori back on the floor and raised his cane to start again.

Finally, she spoke. "He cain't kill you in dis 'tate. You know dat don't you Nori?"

Nori closed his eyes in acceptance. So that was why she wouldn't help…_Well it bloody well hurts enough!_ Still, he didn't say anything, always hoping there was at least a reason…

Lionel did react to that, saying, "Oh is that why you have no problem watching him suffer? Only his author can make him die. We'll see about that when I become his author." He brushed his cape to the side and quickly strode over to the computer he'd noticed earlier. Right there, open on the screen, was Nori's story that I had been working on when the doorbell first rang.

Nori had climbed to his hands and knees again, but quickly collapsed when Lionel deleted an entire paragraph of the novel. He moaned loudly and grabbed his head from the pain. Lionel mocked him, adding, "I could just kill you…type in, 'Then Nori died.' But it would be so much more fun to erase you," he deleted another random section, "little by little."

After Lionel deleted a whole page more, Nori begged, "Stop…please," still pressing against his pounding temples. It was the first thing he'd said and short at that. However, it clearly described everything he was feeling. For a second, Tia Dalma almost broke, but she quickly returned to her apathetic state. Dad gave her an angry look but wasn't too concerned with saving a fictional character himself.

Lionel just kept deleting. Nori watched his whole life flash before him, literally, at the speed of light. He suddenly remembered that van that hit his bike, and the two men who came out of it, holding him captive for three weeks. Everything before that was gone. Then, it instantly skipped to the end of the three weeks when the two men dumped him, unconscious, in a ditch somewhere. He got a second to remember calling his dad at a pay phone and giving his dad the two men's toothbrushes for evidence. It was only a second, though, before everything after the ditch was gone.

Even through all his pain, Nori could tell Lionel was looking for something in particular, which was confirmed when Lionel exclaimed, "Ah! There it is. 'Tis a shame you have such bad allergies."

That scared Nori. He knew exactly what Lionel had found and was not looking forward to reliving it. He couldn't express any of that fear, however; he didn't have the energy. Mumbling inaudibly to the floor, he opened his eyes and stared nervously into the carpet. That was the only thing he had the strength to do: wait worriedly. Lionel placed the cursor where he wanted Nori's memory to start, and the voice of the narrator replayed through Nori's head.

The drug didn't sit too well with Nori at all. But how were the two men to know he was deadly allergic to the main ingredient? It made him pass out like it should have, but he quickly started twitching, then flinging wildly and convulsing until he was in full blown seizures. They had no idea what to do. They were kidnappers, not doctors.

One of the two said, "I thought the pills were just supposed to make him sleep."

"They were," the other replied, "obviously it's not working right."

"Should we call 9-1-1?"

"No, you idiot. Do you want to be in jail?"

"No…but if he dies, won't we spend longer in prison?"

"He's not going to die, stupid. It's just a seizure…See, it's stopping already."

He was right. The seizures weakened, slowed, and then stopped. Nori lie there motionless, just as they wanted.

"Is he dead?" The stupid one asked.

The other one walked toward Nori to check his pulse, but he was so sure of the answer that he replied, "No, he's not dead!" before realizing that there really wasn't a pulse. He quickly corrected himself in shock, "He's dead."

That was ordinarily followed by the two men resuscitating Nori using CPR and an EKG, but Lionel stopped it there, deleting everything after, "He's dead." That would really leave Nori dead.

Becca and I burst through the door, and seeing Nori there on the floor, I rushed to his side calling, "Nori!" The usual bright colors of his hair and clothes had faded, and he was slightly transparent. I rolled him onto his back, and his body limply obeyed. Just like every anime character's face expresses everything, I could clearly tell from his that he was dead. I let out a heavy breath, trying not to cry.

"You're too late Miss," Lionel stated bluntly. "He's dead."

"No," I cried, grabbing Nori's shoulders and shaking. "Nori, you can't be dead."

Dad informed me, "Tiara, the computer! He hasn't saved it yet."

I ran to the computer as Lionel also got the hint and clicked on the File menu to save his changes. He hadn't quite pushed save when I hit Alt+F4 on the keyboard—the combination to exit a window. The little box popped up asking if we wanted to save changes, and before he could even read it, I arrowed over to "No," hit enter, and the window exited. It had saved none of the changes.

I looked over to Nori and sighed with relief. Though he was still unconscious, his normal color had returned to him. Lionel stood up in anger and turned to slap me with his hand. I ducked, covering my face. Dad started towards us, again trying to protect. Again Tia Dalma stopped him. Lionel didn't slap me, though. He chuckled, having come up with a better idea.

He stroked his moustache, thoughtfully mentioning, "You know, if you want Nori to live, I'll have to kill Tia Dalma. We had a deal."

I shrugged carelessly. She hadn't saved Nori; why should I save her?

Tia Dalma was almost instantly between us. "No, no, no," she countered with her normal, "everything is a joke" attitude, "da deal were: he die, I live. Voila, he die, so I live. Ne'er do it specify wha' 'appen af'er he die."

"No," Lionel explained, "the deal was save him or save yourself. If you really wanted to save yourself, you would have stopped her from saving him. So you either come with me, or you kill him…for good."

"No," I protested. I had backed away from the two of them and rejoined Nori. Now picking him up under his arms and holding him protectively against my chest, a couple of inches off the ground. His body hung limply in my arms as I stated, "Take Tia Dalma. She's who you came for in the first place. Do what you will, but don't you dare hurt Nori again."

He threw his hands in the air. "If that's what you wish…"

"It's what I wish," I insisted.

"Okay," Lionel finished, grabbing Tia Dalma's hand and disappearing into the computer with her.

I took Nori up to my room and laid him down in my bed. For a while, I just stared at him, admiring what I'd created and so sorry for everything he'd just gone through. It just didn't seem right to hurt someone like Nori, with his big, happy eyes. He was such a sweet boy, and he never did anything to hurt anyone else. Becca had followed me up the stairs, and she joined me in my room.

"I don't think anyone's going to believe we saw this," she noted.


	4. Chapter 3 crazy fan girls

Thank you Kateracks for being the first to review! Thanks also, especailly to Disney (Tia Dalma/Aladdin/a few others), George Lucas (star wars), 20th Century Fox (short stuff), and Square Enix (so far just Sora, but some other Kingdom Hearts people later). And, I'm sorry if I forgot any.

Read on!

* * *

Dusty and Becca were both in my room playing Star Wars: Episode I Racer on my computer when Nori woke up. He only had to look at the ceiling to realize he didn't know where he was. He knew he was alive, which relieved him, but then he heard a strange voice call, "It's working! It's working!" Worried as to what would be working, he looked in the direction of the voice. Sitting in front of the computer were the two girls. One he recognized; one he didn't.

"Where am I?" He asked curiously.

"Tiara's room," Becca answered.

"Where's Tiara?" He sounded slightly worried.

"She went downstairs to get drinks," Dusty replied.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Tiara's sister, and this is her friend Becca."

He nodded and was quiet for a second. Then, he heard the same voice screaming. It wasn't one of the two girls, but he knew the voice from somewhere.

"Is that Anakin?" He wondered.

"Yeah," Becca replied, "how'd you know?"

"Why is he screaming?"

Not even thinking it might be a bad idea, Becca responded, "He just died."

"He's dead!" Nori exclaimed, jumping out of bed and rushing to look at the screen with the two girls. After a second, he said, "He's not dead you wackos. Look at the screen; he's still flying."

"Well, it's not really dying," Becca explained, but since she was playing, Dusty finished for her, "Sometimes, when you crash, the podracer blows up, and it's like you died, only you come back after three seconds."

Nori nodded and just watched until Becca crashed again. "Why do you crash?"

Becca and Dusty looked at each other in shock. He was like a three year old with all the "Why?" questions. Did they really have to explain that to him? How would they explain that?

"Your turn," Dusty said so she wouldn't have to answer.

"What?" Becca questioned. "I'm racing."

"Yeah, but I answered the last one, and you're the one that crashed."

"Yeah, but what do you think he'll do if I crash again and kill Anakin because I'm not paying attention?"

"Look out!" Nori warned, ducking behind the chair. He stood back up after the podracer blew up again. "How hard is it to remember to turn when there's a wall in front of you?"

Becca stopped the race. "Do you think you can do better than me?"

"Yeah," Nori shrugged, "I can fly those things."

Becca stood up so he could sit in the chair. He did, but then he just stared at the keyboard for a while. He tried to make it seem like he knew which one of the buttons to push, but there were just too many. Then, he tried to remember what the various parts were called, gesturing with is hands like if he were flying a real one.

Demonstrating each action with his hands, he asked, "Where are the thrusters?" Both hands went forward. "And the steering," one went forward and one back, "and the brakes?"

"I thought you said you knew how to fly these already," Dusty mentioned.

"Well, I do, but I've never done it on the computer before."

"Do you…use GameBoy?"

"What's GameBoy? Is that sort of like PlayBoy? I didn't think they had podracers in PlayBoy."

"Noooooo," both Becca and Dusty countered, sorry to have brought up that subject. Becca hid her face in Dusty's shoulder.

Dusty continued, "No. GameBoy is…like a computer."

"Oh,." He felt embarrassed too. "no, I fly those."

"Like real ones?"

"Uh, yeah," he nodded.

"Really?" Becca asked, coming out of Dusty's shoulder in disbelief.

"Yeah, and I don't crash into walls." They just stared at him in shock. After a second, he inquired, "So…what buttons do I push?"

Dusty quickly explained, "You push this to start the race, this to go, these to go left and right, this to go faster, and that for better control when you're turning," pointing to each button in turn. "Got it?"

Nori nodded. "Got it." He took a deep breath and started the race. It took him a while to get used to it all, but once he'd gotten the hang of it, he really was pretty good. When I got back to the room, I was so surprised to see Nori out of bed that I almost dropped the drinks.

"Nori, you're awake," I stated.

"Hi Tiara," he replied without even looking at me.

I came over to the computer, scratching my head, and watched him for a while. "Has he ever played this before?"

"Nope," Becca responded, "he flies real ones."

"Nori, when'd you learn to do that?" I asked, knowing I hadn't put anything of the sort in his story.

"Tiara, on average how much time do you spend writing about me each day?"

"An hour maybe," I answered, not sure why he was asking that.

"What do you think I do with the rest of my time? Sit around and grow moss?" That got a chuckle from all of us. "Anakin takes us to the track every weekend."

"How do you know Anakin?"

"Just a sec," he said, giving himself a chance to finish the race before he had to explain. He got first, we all congratulated him, and then he explained, "When you authors aren't writing us, we're all in the same place. The characters from every story live in the same land called (some really great name for fiction-land). We make friends and hang out and do stuff like normal people while we wait to return to (some really great name for story-land) where you write us at."

"Are you serious? You can really fly podracers there?" Dusty asked.

"Yeah."

"And there's people from every story. We could meet anyone we wanted," Becca added.

"Yeah."

"Can't we come with you?" All three of us begged, falling to our knees.

He raised his eyebrows. "I don't think so."

"Oh." That was depressing.

"'Cuz Lionel, the lobster guy, he's the king, and I really don't know how he would react to having three outsiders there," Nori explained, realizing we were all disappointed.

"Couldn't we go one at a time?" I wondered after a moment. I thought it was a great idea.

"Uh…" it was hard to say no because he really didn't see any harm in it—other than the fact that lobster guy might try to kill us for doing it. "Still no, probably. It might work if I ask first."

"Ask who? The lobster guy?" I questioned, thinking that would be a really bad idea.

"No," he replied, acting like that was an obvious answer, "Tia Dalma, she's the one that…"

"Becca!" My mom called up the stairs. "Your mom's on the phone and she wants you to come home immediately. She says you stole her car, and you still have the dishes to finish. If you aren't home in fifteen minutes, you'll be grounded."

"All right," Becca sighed. "I've gotta go. It was nice meeting you Nori." She reached her hand out to shake his, but he hugged her instead.

"Don't worry," he encouraged, "I'll see you again. I know where you live." Becca laughed at that and then grabbed Dusty and I to walk her to the door. Nori grabbed my other arm and whispered, "Stay here."

"Don't worry Nori," I responded, "I'll be back in a second. I'm just going to say good-bye to my friend."

"I need to talk to you."

"We can talk when I come back."

"No, like without them."

"Then, Dusty won't come back."

"Please Tiara," he begged, "I need to know what happened to Tia."

I stopped trying to leave, a bit confused. "You're worried about what happened to her after everything she did to you?"

"She didn't do it. The lobster did," Nori insisted.

"Nori, she brought you here, knowing he was going to kill you, and then she didn't even try to stop it. Would you have protected her after that?"

"That's what I was doing."

"But why? You're just a person; she's just a person. Lionel wasn't even looking for you."

"That's why: because he wasn't looking for me. This would all make so much more sense to you if you would have heard him call her the queen."

"How does that make it make more sense? He's king, and she's queen. Doesn't that mean he wouldn't want to hurt her anyways?"

"No…not like that. How can I explain this?" He paused to think for a while. "Okay, you know how every story has good and bad, and that's what makes a story interesting?"

"Yeah," I agreed.

"Okay, good. _**Fiction-land**_ is just the same. There is the good side, and there is the bad side. And there isn't much in between. In fact, there's a big hole between the good side and the bad side. The palace is on the bad side, and when there's a good king, all of _**Fiction-land**_ is consumed by good. But when there's a bad king, it is all bad and dark and people like the Heartless, the Sith, and the Hoppers roam the streets. Lionel is a bad king. Do you understand so far?"

"Yeah, but where does Tia Dalma come in?"

"I was just getting to that. When she was invented, we all quickly realized that she had a special gift, which allowed her to bring light to _**Fiction-land**_ even though Lionel is a bad king. So it is light around her and dark around him. Quickly, _**Fiction-land**_ became divided, the good people flocking to Tia and the bad people to Lionel. He was still the king, but the majority of people started following Tia, calling her the queen because she offered to help. She's come up with some plan to destroy him, which none of the rest of us could come up with on our own, and we trust that it will work because we trust her."

"You trust Tia Dalma? That's a strange concept. She just creeps me out."

"Yeah, she's a little weird," he agreed. "But I'm open to her plan, and I wouldn't do anything to get in the way of it. And I really don't think being the captive of Lionel is part of it."

After a second, I asked, "Why did she choose you to die for her?"

"I dunno. Maybe she knew you were coming."

"And you still trust that she has your best interest in mind after you know she would easily give one of you up like that?"

"Uh…yeah. I'm sure she had a good reason."

"Like what?"

Nori was quiet for a while, obviously not able to come up with a good reason. Suddenly, his eyes lit up and he suggested, "Maybe because she knew he was coming to your house and all your other main characters were busy."

"Nori, that's not a good reason."

His shoulders slumped. "Well, I dunno. That's why she's the queen and not me…I know she's good," he insisted, "because if she wasn't, she wouldn't make everything light again. And I don't want people to blame me for losing her."

I sat down on my bed trying to think through what he was saying as he continued, "And you always have these great ideas. I know I couldn't ever figure out any of the cases you send me on without you telling me the answer. I can't save her by myself Tiara. You need to help me."

_Great,_ I thought, _he thinks I'm a talented plan designer. I don't even know what a plan designer is called._ Trying to excuse my way out of it, I mentioned, "But I thought you said you couldn't bring us 'outsiders' to fiction-land."

"I didn't want to tell them that without Tia, the place isn't any fun at all. It's dark and gloomy and dangerous. And when it's fun again, once we've saved Tia, I can ask her if you guys can come, and she'll protect you…I think."

"And you don't have anyone else that will help you?"

"Well, I might…if they're not all mad at me, but we'll still need your help."

I couldn't come up with anymore excuses that didn't sound obvious, and I didn't want to hurt his feelings by making him think I didn't want to come. I did want to come. Helping him save the world would be awesome…but I didn't want to disappoint him by not being able to live up to his expectations either. I closed my eyes, and a quote from my website popped up in my mind. _I am the idiot who longs for adventure, and then when I finally get it, I'm too stupid and confused to do anything about it._ This was my one real chance at adventure. How could I be so stupid and just watch it pass by?

Forcing myself to overcome my anxieties, I took a deep breath and said, "Okay. I don't know how much help I'll be, but I'll do it."

The big smile was coming back, and Nori jumped into my arms, tackling me on the bed. "This is so great! We're gonna get to spend soooo much time together."

_Oh dear, _I thought. What had I gotten myself into this time?

When Dusty came back upstairs, no one was in my room. There was only a note left on my computer monitor that read: _Went to save the world. Sorry we couldn't take you. Be back soon, but Nori says don't wait up. TTYL, Tiara._

"Ahhh!" Dusty screamed through the house, not in fear but in frustration. "That little…ugh! Grr!"

"What's the problem?" Dad called up the stairs. It would normally have been Mom asking that, but she was taking Becca home.

Dusty came out of my room so they could see each other and complained, "Tiara! She ran off to fiction-land with Nori and didn't take me!"

On the other end, Nori and I stepped out of what looked like another normal computer screen, only it wasn't attached to anything. "Welcome to _**Fiction-land**_," Nori stated, spinning around to gesture at everything. He added quietly, "Though I expected it to be dark because Tia's in captivity."

"Maybe things aren't so bad after all," I said.

"Huh…maybe…but anyways, these are the Outlands, the border between good and bad. See this giant crack?" He pointed a few feet in front of us and then politely helped me to step over it. "The forest back there is bad. Everything else is good."

I glanced back at the forest that encompassed everything behind the computer screen and asked, "If all the forest is bad, where do the forest animals live, like Bambi?"

"Bambi?" He repeated, almost hysterically. "They live in Sherwood Forest. It's separated from _**Bad-forest-name**_ by all of New York City."

"Are we going to New York?" I wondered, hoping we wouldn't spend the whole time in the Outlands, which looked a bit like Eastern Oregon.

"No, New York is too big, and it's full of pollution and the rude 'good people.' Plus, all the tragedies happen there. No, we're going to _**Fantasy-land**_. It's much better there."

"Okay," I agreed a little unsurely and followed him.

After a while we past a staircase and Nori began explaining again. "That is the staircase to heaven. There are…seven levels."

"Let me guess, that's where fiction people go when they die," I assumed. I looked up at it and admired the beautiful castle that was always depicted as being at the top of the staircase to heaven.

"No, 'fiction people' dissolve when they die and are used to create more 'fiction people.' Heaven is where anything that flies lives. Like the first level is for evil fairies, and then birds, and then I think angels are next, followed by good fairies. I'm not exactly sure, but I think there's a handful of dogs on one level, and then all the gods, and something else. I don't remember."

"Dogs?" I asked, at first not remembering the series of movies All Dogs Go to Heaven which would have put them there.

"Yeah, I think, but I've never actually been there. Regular people can't go up there because a bunch of the grumpy fairies guard all the entrances."

"Oh." I thought for a second. "So have you ever seen a fairy, like, besides the grumpy ones at the gates?"

"Yeah, they come down all the time. We just can't go up there."

Just as he said that, we reached the top of a hill, and at the bottom we could see _**Fantasy-land**_ in almost its entirety. "Wow!" I exclaimed in awe. It was huge. I guess I should have expected it because of just how many characters have ever been invented, but for some reason I was surprised. It seemed even bigger than New York.

"Come on," Nori suggested, randomly deciding to run down the hill. I followed, but as we reached the gate, I pulled ahead by a couple feet.

Touching the gate a second before he got there, I announced, "I win."

The short guy from Robots who opened Bigweld's gate slapped my hand ordering, "Unhand the wondrous gate of Queen Dalma's marvelous _**Fantasy-land**_! You might leave a smudge."

I moved my hand, and he started vigorously rubbing where my hand had been with a small cloth. Nori started laughing at me. He was still breathing hard and resting his hands on his knees from the run, so it sounded kind of funny. After a couple of deep breaths to stop laughing and to recover from the run, he stood up and addressed the small robot.

"So, ye gonna let us in or not Short Stuff?" He asked.

The small robot unrolled a scroll and began checking a list of names, saying, "Let me see…hmm…uh-huh…Nope, you're not on the list." He showed the list to Nori.

Nori took the blank scroll and mentioned, "There's nobody on this list."

"That's right! _**Fantasy-land**_ is officially closed. No one may enter or exit the wondrous gate of Queen Dalma's marvelous city."

"That's not true Short Stuff. You let me out yesterday."

"Is that so?" He pulled out another blank scroll. "Yep, I suppose it is. Things have changed since then, young man. Go home."

"My home is inside there," Nori added. Short Stuff—as he was apparently called—just stared at Nori. There was what seemed to be a fifteen second long staring contest, which was ended when Nori said, "I know the password."

"Do you?" Short Stuff asked, "What is **the** password?"

Nori leaned through the gate and whispered something to Short Stuff. Short Stuff leaned back, acting like he might open the gate. As soon as we could have almost fit through, the gate slammed shut again—to be expected considering he did that several times to the main character in the movie he was from.

He laughed evilly and then stated, "That's not the password."

"You've got to be kidding." Nori was shocked.

"No, I'm absolutely serious. That's not the password."

"That password has been the same for all three years I've lived in _**Fantasy-land**_! I leave for one day and you changed it!"

"It was time for a new one."

"What do you mean it was time for a new one?"

Short Stuff opened another scroll, this time one that actually had writing, and read, "The code, as set out by Queen Dalma, in Article XXXVII," which he pronounced as "X-X-X-V-I-I," instead of "37," "dot V dot XI, line one…two…three…four…five…six, clearly states, 'a return of darkness without the immediate presence of Captain CrawFish is to be met with the reproduction of all important documents, and the changing of the gate password.'"

Nori thought for a second. "Darkness did return?"

"Yep, didn't you wonder why you were wandering around in constant dusky gloom?"

"No…I wasn't here."

"You mean it wasn't dark in other areas of _**Fiction-land**_?"

"No, I wasn't in _**Fiction-land**_. But don't tell anyone…Why isn't it dark anymore?"

"You know, I don't know. Approximately one hour, three minutes, twenty-eight seconds, and fourteen milliseconds ago everything randomly became light again."

I had been laughing at the small robot the whole time, but when I heard that, I pulled Nori to me and whispered, "That's like exactly how long we've been here. And who's Captain CrawFish?"

"Captain CrawFish is another name for…you know who…Him," Nori replied just as quietly. "If he ever found out that's what we call him, he'd be pissed. I was thinking that too, though, that it got light as soon as we got back. Strange, eh?"

"What are you two whispering about out there?" Short Stuff questioned.

"Come on, Short Stuff, just let us in. You know I live in there."

"Yep. I also know about half a dozen creatures that could perfectly impersonate you. If you don't know the new password, you don't get in."

Nori sighed and started banging his head on the wall next to the gate. "Right now would be a good time for one of your great ideas Tiara," he hinted. I just stared at him blankly, thinking, _I don't have ideas. _After a couple seconds, a miracle saved me when something in Nori's pocket started beeping. He pulled out a small video phone and pushed a button to answer it.

I heard a voice call from the other end, "Takeshi! Y'know we've been worried sick about you. Where have you been?"

"There's actually people here who call you Takeshi?" I asked, a bit surprised that he had told anyone that name.

"Nice to see you too Sora. Hang on a second," Nori replied sarcastically. Then, he covered the speaker and turned to me, "Yeah, Sora calls me Takeshi because he's got a girl's name, so we make fun of each other for it."

"Wait, who's Sora?" I came up next to him, to look at the video and immediately recognized the face. "Are you serious? It's Sora from Kingdom Hearts! HI Sora!" I shouted to the phone, waving dramatically.

"Who's she?" Sora inquired.

"Some crazy fan girl," Nori answered. I glared at him, offended that he would call me that. He smirked and added, "I'll show her to you if you come get me inside the city."

"What are you doing outside the city?"

"Sora, I don't know what's gotten into you. We leave the city all the time."

"Yeah, but never before when darkness returned. We've been trying to get a hold of you for two days, and your phone wouldn't pick up, even before darkness returned. What on Earth were you doing?" He gestured a lot.

"Uh…I was preoccupied," was the best answer Nori could come up with. "Come on Sora. It's not something I can shout out to the public. Come let me inside the city and I'll tell you."

Sora thought for a while, finally sighing, "This doesn't change that I'm mad at you for disappearing like that. Nehemiah and I will come and get you."

"Thank you Sora."

"Whatever, see ya."

"Bye Sora!" I called into the phone.

"Bye crazy fan girl," he replied, hanging up.

Nori gave me a jealous look, so I asked, "What?"

He responded, "I thought you were my crazy fan girl. Since when do you like Sora?"


	5. Chapter 4 Murderous thoughts

A special thanks to the creators of Aladdin, Garfield, Aristocats, Treasure Planet, Puss in Boots (the shrek way), Robots, Stuart Little, Warren Peace, the Pig and Whistle, and once again Kingdom Hearts.

Eh, I just moved my story here, so I hope it gets more hits now. I really hope you all enjoy it. There isn't much Kingdom Hearts stuff at the beginning because Nori is really the main character, but if you put up with it for a while, Roxas, Axel, and Demyx will pop up a lot.

PS, I really need names for the places in this story. That's not something I'm good at, so I need a name for the whole country (right now called **_Fiction-land_**) and for the sea port city (affectionately known as **_Sea-city_**) and the city that Nori/Sora/everybody lives in (which I named **_Fantasy-land_** just for lack of a better idea). If anyone has any ideas, let me know. :)

* * *

In the hour that we waited for Sora and Nehemiah to come get us, we didn't do much. I got to watch a group of hundreds of mice and rats call together an emergency meeting just inside the gate to discuss the recent darkness. It was funny because the three mice leading the meeting were blind. How could they possibly have known it was darker? They talked about the lemmings' and the dodo birds' plans of action, and whether or not they wanted to throw themselves off a cliff in a similar manner. The answer was unanimously, "No," and that they would prefer to eat and party their hearts out while they still had the chance.

Stuart Little started driving people around in his car, half a dozen sat in the corner gorging themselves on cheese that one had stolen from across the street, and the three blind mice struck up a band. Everyone was ecstatic about the party, so ecstatic, actually, that they didn't notice the orange cat convention gathering around them. Puss in Boots was there, along with Raja from Aladdin, Garfield, and even O'Malley from the Aristocats. They were about to attack, spreading mass chaos through the mice, and Raja even had a couple mice in her mouth already, when Dr. Doppler—the dog-man from Treasure Planet—chased them all away, forcing Raja to spit out the ones in her mouth.

I couldn't help but laugh at that. It was pretty much all that had happened while we were there. Nori mindlessly occupied himself by tossing rocks into the Outlands. He had actually started out by catching handfuls of grasshoppers and trying to scare me with them, but when I caught one and stuffed it down the back of his shirt, he stopped with that. I faced back toward the Outlands and just watched Nori for a while.

After a moment, I asked, "Is it really such a big deal that it was dark here for like twelve hours? In Alaska the sun never rises all winter long."

Nori stopped throwing rocks to reply, "It's not the same kind of darkness Tiara. Like Short Stuff said, it's 'constant dusky gloom.' It's a kind of darkness that can fill your mind with depression and suicidal slash murderous thoughts. We have night here too, and that's a completely different kind of dark. It was kind of funny right after Tia Dalma rescued the city from darkness, though, the first night everyone was freaking out…But that's what happens when darkness comes in the day now because it means that Tia is in trouble, and if we lose her, we lose her plan, and if we lose her plan, we lose light forever."

"Oh," I said and just went back to thinking. Nori realized he only had one more rock around him, so instead of starting to throw them into the Outlands again, he started throwing that one up and down.

For me, it was fun to watch what was going on in the city. It was an Arabic bazaar somewhat like the one in Aladdin, which meant there was always someone dancing through it or playing one of those flutes that can make snakes move. For a while more, I just watched. People didn't seem to be too affected by the recent darkness. Maybe that was because they had changed the password, and that made them feel better. I was about to ask Nori again when I saw a strange pirate examining some fruit in the marketplace.

I tugged on Nori's shirt sleeve, telling him, "Nori, look! It's Jack Sparrow!" Standing up and waving excitedly, I shouted, "HI Captain Jack!"

Nori grabbed my arm and pulled me back to the ground asking, "How many people's crazy fan girl can you be?"

"As many as I want," I answered. "Now stop being so jealous and let me meet him."

"You don't want to meet him," Nori warned.

"Of course I want to meet him. I've always wanted to meet Captain Jack Sparrow, even before I made you."

"That's not Captain Jack Sparrow."

"It's not?" I questioned, really confused.

"Well, it is Captain Jack Sparrow, but you couldn't have wanted to meet **that** one longer than you've known me because he's only a year old."

"Huh?"

"You see, ever since that movie came out, too many people have loved Jack Sparrow, enough that they want to write stories about him. The original Jack Sparrow couldn't handle all that, though. So whenever the job became too much for him, they made a new one. There's like six Jack Sparrows. That one isn't very nice, and can hardly impersonate Jack even when his authors are telling him exactly what to do."

"Then, where's the real Jack Sparrow?" I inquired.

"Uh…" Nori thought for a while. "I'm pretty sure, since he's a pirate that he lives in _**Sea-city**_ because it's right next to the ocean."

"We should go there! How far away from here is it?"

"Walking?...Too far."

"Have you ever met him?" I wondered.

"Me? No, I've never been to the ocean."

"Yes you have Nori. You live in Japan. I take you to the ocean all the time," I reminded, just a bit confused.

"Well, yeah, but I meant the _**Fiction-land**_ ocean. When you take me to the beach, I always have to do exactly what you tell me to. It's not quite as fun that way…but I did meet one Jack Sparrow that was almost exactly like the real one. He was pretty neat. If I get the chance I could introduce you two."

"I put a Jack Sparrow in one of my stories. I wonder which one it was."

He shrugged.

A moment later, Sora pulled up to the gate on Nori's bike and stopped next to it. Riding on the back was an African-American boy who wasn't animated. I could only assume that was Nehemiah. They hopped off, and Nori and I climbed to our feet to meet them.

"Tell me who she is, and I'll let you in," Sora ordered.

"I can't say it out loud…not here," Nori answered.

I hadn't paid any attention to that at all. I was just excited to meet Sora, so I put my hand through the gate to shake his, saying, "It's so totally awesome to meet you Sora. I'm Tiara, Nori's—"

Nori jumped on my back and covered my mouth, finishing, "Cousin. She's my long lost distant cousin."

"Dude Nori," Nehemiah remarked jokingly, "your cousin's hot. Can I date her?"

I pulled Nori's hand off my mouth and argued, "I'm not your cousin Nori." It made me feel cool, though, to know his friend thought I was cute.

He slid off my back and shushed me with his finger. "You can't go telling people who you are Tiara." Then, he turned to Sora, "Just let me in…please. You understand, don't you?"

"All right, you're telling me as soon as we get home then…and where have you been?"

"With her," Nori replied shortly.

"Still classified, then? You're acting just like that guy who thinks he's CIA." Sora leaned over and whispered the password to Short Stuff.

Short Stuff questioned, "Are you sure you want me to let them in?"

"Yeah," Sora agreed.

The gate opened slowly, and this time it didn't slam shut on us. Nori and I walked through. Nehemiah and Sora hopped back onto the bike and rode off.

Nori called after them, "You know that's my bike!"

"We'll talk when we get home," Sora shouted back jokingly.

I laughed at that, and Nori gave me an evil glare. "You do realize this means we have to walk to my home, right?"

"So?" I questioned.

He shrugged. A moment later, he added, "I told you my friends would be mad at me."

Mostly silently, he led me through the city, starting with the Arabic bazaar. When we turned down an alleyway it suddenly changed into an inner city street that looked kind of like Chicago. We walked through that for a while, past a couple of homeless people. After waiting for some busses and taxis to pass, we crossed one street. As we walked down the street, things gradually faded out of Chicago and into Paris with little bakeries every other building. When we reached the Eiffel Tower, we turned right, heading toward a large Cathedral.

It was a little uncomfortable when we walked in the door, through to the back door, and then just randomly back out again. On the other side of the church were rows upon rows of castles. I stared in awe at the fairy tale-like buildings as we passed them by. Nori just walked faster, seemingly feeling more awkward here than in the church.

I quickly learned why when someone who looked like a butler pointed to us and ordered, "You two! Yeah, you…the ones not dressed properly. Get your dirty little paws off of our perfectly paved street!"

Nori took off running, dragging me behind him, and we didn't stop until we had reached what appeared to be a hick town in the Australian Outback. "What was that about?" I asked.

Nori shrugged, "We don't belong there. Wasn't that obvious?"

"But you said this was supposed to be the good side. Everyone we've met so far has been rude."

"Good and nice don't necessarily have to mean the same thing. By good, it only means they don't support Captain CrawFish. It's possible some of them are still acting weird from the darkness, but Short Stuff is always like that—and he was only following orders. Sora's mad; you'll like him when you really meet him—but I think you were expecting to like him. The rich people are overly proud of themselves; that's always the case. And, I can't explain Jack, but that really only makes one person in the whole city that is rude, right?"

"Okay," I answered a bit skeptically.

"Come on, we're almost home." He grabbed my hand and started walking down the abandoned dirt road. He turned when we came to the only paved road of the entire town, and we followed that for another half a mile before it changed into a normal, suburban street with small homes on it. We found his bike parked just outside the fourth or fifth one and turned up the driveway.

Nori flung the door open, announcing, "Welcome to our humble abode! Here's the living room. Those are our video games. That's the kitchen, but we never use it. The bathroom is down the hall." He paused, waiting for Sora and Nehemiah to enter the room. When they did, he jumped between the two, putting one arm around each of their shoulders, and introduced as if we hadn't just met, "And these are my two best friends Sora and Nehemiah. Guess which one's my twin."

"Uh…is this a trick question?" I replied.

"Just guess."

"Sora."

"Wrong! I just knew I'd be able to get someone with that someday. You can't look at looks because Sora was made like three years before me, and Nehemiah and I were created at the exact same moment from the same dying old man."

"Interesting," I said, not sure exactly how to respond. I was also mostly distracted by the somewhat horrified expressions on Sora's and Nehemiah's faces. They weren't quite ready to make up yet, I guess.

Nori backed away from them noting, "Okay, I know you guys are mad at me. That's just how I wanted her to meet you…so, now that she knows you, this is Tiara," he suddenly switched to a bragging, elated whisper, "my author!"

"What the—" Nehemiah began but never finished.

"Is that allowed?" Sora questioned.

"I don't think so," Nori answered guiltily. "That's why I didn't want to tell you in public. I'm gonna be in enough trouble as it is."

"No kidding…if you've been with her, doesn't that mean you entirely left _**Fiction-land**_?"

"Yeah, but that wasn't my fault, and that's not really why I'm gonna be in trouble. There's plenty of other creatures who have snuck out since the gate mysteriously opened."

"The gate's open?" Nehemiah wondered.

"What's it like down there? Like was it different from here?" Sora was excited for a moment, but then he remembered he was angry and demanded, "And why again were you there?"

Nori thought for a second, knowing that the answer "painful" wasn't the right way to respond. Eventually, he responded, "What I saw wasn't any different from the way life is here, except there weren't any famous people, and I was only there 'cuz Tia asked me to go."

"Why would she ask you to go down and meet your author and not let the rest of us go too?"

"Uh…maybe I'll just start at the beginning. I was sitting on the street corner waiting for you guys to meet me like we had planned when she showed up and asked if I had plans. I told her I did, but she assured me they weren't as important as what she wanted me for. You can't argue with that, so I went with her because she asked. She took me past the Outlands to the gate, and I asked what we were doing, but she just said there was something she needed my help for. The next thing I knew we were standing in front of Tiara, and Tia was like, 'Who cares, let's go get beat up instead.' So we went to Tiara's house—and that still confuses me, why we weren't there to begin with—and Captain CrawFish beat me up until I died. Then, I woke up and came back here."

"If you were dead, how did you wake up?" Nehemiah questioned.

"More importantly," added Sora, "how did he kill you just by beating you up? How are you going to get in trouble for that? And why did you bring Tiara here just because you woke up?"

"Well, I was trying to shorten things a bit. He got a hold of my story, and I don't know exactly what happened. I just know one second I was dead and the next second I wasn't."

"That was me," I peeped up, guiltily, knowing now that doing that had sent all of _**Fiction-land**_ into 'constant dusky gloom.'

"See, so she saved me somehow." He paused there to make it all seem good and so that he could take a deep breath to say the next part super fast, "Which unknowingly sent Tia Dalma into captivity to die for me."

"Yeah, you're in trouble Nori," Sora commented.

"Dude, how could you do that?" Nehemiah obviously agreed with Sora. "Don't you realize—"

"Dude, I was dead when it happened! It was her," Nori defended, but then he realized he had blamed me and quickly added, "But she didn't know any better. To them, Tia Dalma's just some creepy Jamaican lady. That's why I brought Tiara here, so we could maybe save her before anyone finds out. She feels bad, she really does."

Nehemiah and Sora looked at each other unsurely for a while before the latter asked, "How can we help?"

I winced, knowing Nori was about ready to look at me expecting a plan, and then his two friends would too. I didn't have a plan. Dusty was the one who could come up with good ideas like that. I could come up with ideas too, but it took me much longer. What I was really good at was filling stories with useless details until I knew what I was going to say. Cautiously I opened my eyes to see if they were staring at me yet. They were! I needed something—a useless detail I could throw out to fill life until I knew what to say.

"Where is she?" I inquired, seemingly randomly.

All three looks changed from stares of expectation to stares of confusion.

I explained, "I mean, when this happens, where do people usually end up? Where would she be being held captive? Obviously you can't break someone out without knowing what jail they're locked in."

After a few seconds of their faces being locked in an ignorant stare, Nehemiah broke the silence with, "Good question." He turned to his two friends, "Do you think he'd just put her in the jail, or would he want to keep a closer eye on her than that?"

There was just more staring. Oh, how wonderful boys are! A moment into the mindless silence, a yawn spread across Sora's face and he faded into Roxas. Roxas had appeared simply to rest his head in his hand and show his complete boredom.

"Shut up, Roxas," Nehemiah ordered. "These things are more difficult for us than they are for you. You are a bad guy."

"Was," Roxas corrected, "was a bad guy."

But no one was paying any attention to that. Nori, Sora, and Nehemiah had all come up with the same idea at the same time. Sora took over Roxas' place, and the three looked at each other in amazement, saying simultaneously, "To beat the enemy, you have to **be** the enemy."

I wasn't sure I understood what they were getting at, and Roxas didn't get it either. He shoved Sora back out of the way—figuratively speaking—to ask, "I know that means you want me to do something. What is it?" I knew Sora and Roxas could do that, but it was still really weird to watch it.

Nehemiah answered, "We'll get you and Warren together for a conference, see if you can come up with where you would put her if you had kidnapped her."

Roxas thought for a second and then responded blandly, "In a hole."

"We're not joking, Roxas," Nori said. "Think hard about it."

While Roxas thought, I inquired, "Who's Warren?"

"Another friend," Nori replied. "He should be here any minute."

I was about to ask how he would know that since he had been gone for two days. I suppose they could have had plans way in advance, but looking at the three—four—boys, it didn't seem likely. The words hadn't even made it to my lips when the sound of a dirt bike pulled up next to the house.

"See that's him," Nori continued in an almost bragging way.

But it wasn't him. About a second later, a girl burst through the door and exclaimed, "Oh my God…not good!"

"What's wrong Kairi?" Sora asked. Having immediately reappeared upon seeing her, he now stood up and started toward her.

"Come quick! Warren's—Who's she?"

I could tell Kairi was suddenly distracted by me, but Sora gently grabbed her shoulders commanding, "Concentrate. What's wrong with Warren?"

Kairi turned back to Sora. "He's gonna get himself in trouble again if you guys don't stop him fast."

"Where is he this time?" Nori wondered.

"The Pig and Whistle…again."

Even I recognized that name as a bar from a L. A. Meyer book Bloody Jack. This was not heading the right way. It was only a second before the five of us were outside in the backyard. Nehemiah opened the fence gate, and we rode off on three dirt bikes—Nori and I on one, Nehemiah and Sora on the second, and Kairi on Warren's. It kind of surprised me that Kairi wasn't with Sora, but I didn't push the issue then because they all clearly had something else on their minds.

It only took a few seconds to get to the Pig and Whistle from Nori's house, but it was understandable why they drove instead of running. By the time we got there, a tall, slender man with dark, long hair had already destroyed several things in the bar with balls of fire he could produce in his hands. He was about to throw another at a man who seemed innocent enough but was most likely the source of the conflict.

The five of us had stopped in the doorway for some reason, but recognizing the urgency, Sora rushed out to stand in between Warren and the man—or was it the man and Warren? I couldn't just assume the long haired one was their friend, even though he was the younger and more aggressive one. I worried about Sora, standing defenselessly in front of one of those fireballs, but just before the ball would have hit him, a giant key appeared in his hand. He blocked the fireball with the key and sent it back into the long haired man.

The long haired man stumbled backwards, but quickly regained his footing, ordering, "Out of my way."

Sora didn't move. Instead he centered himself better and prepared to deflect another one. "You're making a mistake."

"I know what I'm doing."

"You're still confused from yesterday."

"Out of my way," the man repeated again, moving toward Sora.

Realizing his friend needed some help, Nori charged the man from behind and jumped on his back, wrapping his arms around the man's neck. That was apparently Nori's specialty. Reflexively, the man grabbed Nori's wrists to keep them from choking him as he wavered to compensate for the extra weight. He then allowed his hands to grow very hot to burn Nori's wrists and make him let go.

"Warren," Nori called when he noticed the pain, "chill dude; it's me Nori. I'm your friend." So Warren was the one with long hair; I was so right. Nori started kicking as the pain grew. Desperately, he demanded, "Warren let go!"

"You let go," Warren replied angrily, purposefully backing into a wall.

"I can't dude," Nori answered after a second, "you're holding me there."

Warren looked thoughtfully to his hands and then carelessly tossed Nori off his back, heading back to the man he'd been fighting in the first place. From the floor, Nori reached out a leg and tripped Warren, who ungracefully fell flat on his face. Before he could try to get up again, Sora and Kairi were there holding him down. Nori climbed up to his knees shaking out his still burning wrists. Nehemiah came running toward the four with a giant bucket of ice water and dumped it on Warren—apparently it helped him "cool off."

Warren tried to get up at the shocking cold, but all of his friends held him down, Sora asking, "I thought you were keeping an eye on him Kairi."

"I was, but there are some things even I can't keep him from doing," she responded. "Come on, let's get him home."

Sora and Nehemiah lifted him back to his feet, each sturdily grabbing one arm to restrain him. He struggled and fought to get out, eventually just shouting, "I'm gonna get you!" No one was quite sure if it was to his friends or the man he had been fighting, though.

Kairi made sure she apologized to the bartender—again—for their friend's temper before following them out the door. Nori came out last, still holding his wrists. I had stayed at the door the whole time, absolutely useless, and now I had questions.

"What's the matter with him?" I asked Nori.

"He used to be on the dark side…as in the captain's side, so when he's reminded of those days, it's harder for him to pull back out of the murderous mode than other people," Nori explained. "He tries, though," Nori finished, with the same tone as a child who has been forced to say they forgive someone.

"Are you okay?" I wondered, referring to his wrists that he couldn't manage to stop fiddling with.

"Yeah."

We all hopped back onto the dirt bikes, this time Sora with Warren, Kairi with Nori, and Nehemiah with me. As quickly as we could, we got Warren back to the house so they could calm him down. Everyone made it home all right. Sora and Nehemiah got Warren to sit down on the couch by bribing him with their most violent video game. After sitting him down, Nehemiah took on the job of convincing him to put his gloves on so he wouldn't melt the controller. At the same time, Sora approached me.

"I think you and Kairi should go back to her house now," Sora began. "It's not an easy thing to fix Warren, and it works better when it's just us boys. You won't mind staying with her will you?"

"Nope," I replied, shaking my head. I was starting to need a break from boys anyways.

"We'll meet back here tomorrow to see if we can find Tia." He paused for a second. "No, can't think of anything else I have to say. Kairi!" He called to her to let her know it was time to go. No one responded, though, so he called again, more urgently, "Kairi!"

She still didn't reply because she wasn't there anymore. Naminé, her blonde counterpart, had replaced her and was busy taking care of Nori's wounds. When Sora noticed this, he was instantly replaced by Roxas. Roxas stood there for a moment, letting what appeared to be anger build up within him. I wasn't exactly sure it was anger because I always thought Nobodies—what Roxas and Naminé were—had no feelings, but he looked angry. A second later he tackled Nori, getting ready to punch him.

"You stay away from my girl—"

"Roxas," Nehemiah interrupted, "get on the couch with Warren."

Roxas obeyed, though not very willingly. Nori climbed to his feet, giving me the strangest look I've ever seen.

"Bye everyone," I announced, waving. I knew it was time for me to take my leave.

"Where are you going?" Kairi asked, reappearing from Naminé.

"We're going to your house," I answered.

"Who are you?" She asked, obviously confused.

"She's my author," Nori replied, once again braggingly. Kairi seemed to accept that because she turned to leave. I followed, taking one last look as I walked out the door.

Roxas jumped off the couch shouting at Nori, "My girl!"

Nehemiah pushed him back down. They certainly had their work cut out for them.


	6. Chapter 5 Nori's friends

For future references, there will be no more disclaimers. After all, why would anyone want to see a long list of things I don't own when they could rather see me thank all the people who provided me the opportunity to use what they do own. Therefore, thank you to the creators of: Trigun, Sailor Moon, and Shamanic Princess, as well as the usual Kingdom Hearts and Sky High.

Now I'll get over myself and my sponsors and let you read.

* * *

It was hard for Nori to sleep that night, and he wasn't exactly sure why. After turning over in his bed repeatedly, he opened his eyes again for the fourth time. The clock still read only three in the morning. He glanced over to the bed across the room and saw Roxas cuddled up in a ball sucking his thumb. A slight smile came to Nori's face. Sora was the dominant personality of the two, so he'd never gotten to see Roxas sleep before. It was kind of amusing. Still, Roxas was sleeping and he wasn't. Why could he not manage to stay asleep? For a while, he stared blankly at the ceiling before drowsily turning onto his side and trying one more time.

That awkward feeling of being watched flooded back into his mind. After trying to fight it off for a few moments he opened his eyes, doomed to be awake for at least half an hour before he'd fall asleep again. When he opened his eyes this time, however, staring back into them were the glowing blue eyes of Lionel. Nori was too scared to move…too scared to even pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He just looked nervously back into Lionel's eyes.

A really long moment later, Lionel figured he'd caused enough fear and stood up, invoking a different kind of terror as he stated, "I know what you're doing, and I can do much worse than kill you," soft enough to not wake Roxas. He grabbed Nori's chin in his claw and then silently brushed away, disappearing into the night.

Nori didn't fall asleep at all after that.

When daylight came around, Roxas climbed out of bed, feeling much better and a bit giddy. He did happen to notice frightened Nori, though, clutching a flannel blanket to his chin and looking at the ceiling like he'd just seen the Grim Reaper.

Cocking his head to the side a bit, he asked, "Are you all right Nori?"

Nori didn't even seem like he could hear Roxas, much less come up with a response, so Roxas went to get Warren and Nehemiah. When they came back in, Warren broke out laughing. That made Roxas laugh, but when Nehemiah smacked Warren upside the head, he quickly shut up, covering his mouth to hide the smile.

"There's obviously something bothering him," Nehemiah said to no one in particular.

Roxas knelt next to the bed questioning, "Nori, what's wrong?" No reply. "Did I scare you last night?...I'm sorry."

After a long pause, Nori answered, "I'm not doing it anymore."

"What?" Roxas was confused. "You're not doing what?"

"I am not going to rescue Tia."

Noticeably concerned, Roxas looked up at Nehemiah who questioned, "What's come over you Nori?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Nori mumbled, turning over in bed.

"But just yesterday—"

"It's not a good idea!" Nori shouted, pulling the covers all the way over his head.

Nehemiah turned back to Roxas. "Did something happen last night?"

Roxas shrugged.

"Don't worry 'bout it, then," Nehemiah said to Nori, "we'll just work on it without you."

"No don't!" Nori exclaimed, suddenly sitting up in bed. "Or CrawFish'll condemn you to eternal pain! He told me last night."

Roxas gulped; even Nehemiah looked worried, but Warren just smiled mysteriously and wondered, "And that didn't cross any of your minds before just now?"

Warren was met with three blank stares. "You didn't once think that if Lionel was willing to kill you to get her away, he would do worse to keep her away?"

Nori blinked a couple times. "No."

Warren buried his face in his hand, embarrassed by his friends' naivety, eventually concluding, "Well I agreed to join this operation knowing I'd most likely die. I'm not quitting just because you've got cold feet. Come on Roxas; let's brainstorm."

Roxas's eyes filled with worry, but he still bit his lip and followed Warren out of the room.

Nori called after them, "No don't." When they didn't listen, he turned to Nehemiah, "You'll stop them, won't you?"

Nehemiah patted Nori's shoulder. "You let them worry about their own welfare. They can take care of themselves. For now, you just focus on beating out this despair that's come over you and getting back to your normal self."

"Okay," Nori agreed reluctantly, slipping back into bed.

I looked out the window to the grey cloud cover that usually meant a drizzly rain was on its way and mumbled to myself, "Well it's kind of gloomy out today." Then, I turned around and there was Kairi walking into the room. Her hair was a mess, her eyelids were heavy, and she drug her feet as she walked. "You don't seem to be a morning person," I commented cheerfully.

She moaned in agreement. "But Naminé likes the morning, so she makes me get up. It's like a built in alarm clock."

"Then why don't you just let her wake up and you stay asleep behind her? I think she'd enjoy being the center of attention for a while."

"I would if I could," Kairi replied miserably.

"She's one of those people that can't sleep standing up," Naminé explained, popping out for a second.

"Yeah, what she said," Kairi agreed. She added after a little while, "We were up too late last night. Next time remind me no slumber parties the day before rescue missions."

I laughed and yawned. I was a little tired too.

Kairi rubbed her face to help her wake up and mentioned, "Nori probably wants me to get you to the boys' house A.S.A.P. Let's go."

The doorbell rang unexpectedly at the boys' house. Roxas looked up curiously to see who it was, but Warren drew his attention back. Warren was taking this kidnapping assignment seriously—either that or he was enjoying it. Nehemiah went to answer it, knowing it wasn't us girls because Kairi never rings the bell. She just walks in. When he opened the door, there was a strange, tall, blonde, anime boy with a red coat who appeared to be in his twenties.

Not recognizing the man, Nehemiah asked, "Who are you?"

The man replied, "Valentinez Alkalinella Xifax Sicidabohertz Gombigobilla Blue Stradivari Talentrent Pierre Andri Charton-Haymoss Ivanovici Baldeus George Doitzel Kaiser the Third."

That didn't help any, so Nehemiah probed, "What do you want?"

"It's not what I want," the anime man said, brushing past Nehemiah and into the house, "the queen sent me to help you with Nori."

"I don't know that I believe that."

The anime man passed by the living room where Roxas and Warren were sitting and simply asked, "Where is he?" He casually plucked a frosted donut from Roxas's hand and took a bite out of it.

"Hey that's mine!" Roxas called.

Warren reminded, "Focus Roxas. What about the thirteenth level?"

"Definitely not the jail," Roxas repeated.

"Why not?"

"People have broken out of it before."

Nehemiah was not convinced that this man was there to do good, so he started asking questions about Nori, "What's Nori's first name?"

"That's easy, Takeshi," the man answered.

"Who's his best friend?"

"Me."

"That's not true!" Roxas shouted, standing up and turning to Sora for the first time that day. Warren tried to make Roxas return to their conversation, but Sora wouldn't give in this time. It was Sora's turn to ask questions. "Where was he created?"

The man sighed, "His story starts in middle school in Tokyo. However, he was created just outside the city at the same time as his narrator Nehemiah."

Sora was a little impressed when Nehemiah nodded but not much. "Who was the first girl he kissed?"

"He never kissed a girl—"

Sora interrupted before he could finish, "Wrong. He kissed Chiyo. Who are his parents?"

"His father is a famous detective who raised him alone because his mother ran off with a sexy Australian accent…and Nori never kissed a girl. Chiyo kissed him, but if that's what you were asking, she wasn't the first to do that. Sailor Jupiter kissed him first."

Sora was very surprised but also starting to feel a little defensive. "What's his author's name?" Sora questioned, feeling smart because he knew the man wouldn't know that answer.

"Nori doesn't even know that."

"Ah-ha! Yes he does. Tiara. So I am the better friend." Victoriously, Sora sat back down on the floor, allowing Roxas to continue with Warren.

The man stood there thoughtfully and then muttered to himself, "Hmm. That's the name of the first girl he ever had a crush on. Interesting."

"He had a crush?" All three boys asked in shock.

The man just shrugged. "How would I know? I'm not his friend."

They got his point. Nehemiah started leading him to Nori's room, and Sora stood back up to follow. Warren wouldn't let him, though, pulling him back to the floor. Sora got an idea and ran after the man.

"You said you were sent here by Tia," Sora began.

"Yeah."

"Where is she?"

The man was quiet for a second. "I dunno. She sent me a fairy message. Why?"

"Nothing." Sora went back to Warren and finished, "CrawFish sent him as a spy," before turning back into Roxas.

Nehemiah brought the man to Nori's room announcing, "Nori, someone's here to see you."

Nori didn't respond at all. Nehemiah stayed in the back of the room, allowing the man to approach the bed. He began waving a gloved hand in front of Nori's face. Still, Nori showed no evidence that anything was registering. The man sat down in a chair near the bed to think of what to do.

After a while, he offered, "D'ya want a donut?"

Nori accepted the offer mindlessly, hardly even recognizing the voice. "Thanks."

"Nori, what's wrong? You weren't even this depressed when Chiyo died."

"Thanks for bringing it up Vash." Then it all connected. "Wait Vash?" He asked. "I thought I wasn't supposed to see you again. What are you doing here?"

A slight smile crossed his face, but before he could say anything, Nehemiah exclaimed, "You got him to speak! He hasn't been that happy all day."

Nori, noticing Nehemiah in the corner, asked Vash, "Did they ask you to come here?"

"No, they didn't even know who I was," Vash replied.

"Yeah they do…This is Vash. I've told you guys about Vash."

"Oh, is he the one who exiled you from Japan?" Nehemiah wondered.

"He didn't exile me—Vash was just trying to protect me, weren't you Vash?...Vash?"

"Are you going to eat that donut?" Vash asked randomly.

"No, you can have it back. Weren't we great friends?"

Vash grabbed it and scarped it down. "Yes, wonderful friends," he answered with his mouth full. Once the donut was clear from his mouth, he continued, "Until the last time he tried to take down CrawFish. He had to leave town so CrawFish's agents wouldn't be able to find him."

Nori's face went back into the despair he woke up with that morning which prompted Nehemiah to inquire, "What happened?"

Vash looked like he might answer, but Nori shook his head no. Instead he responded, "I think the two of us better handle this alone."

Nehemiah wasn't too bothered by leaving them alone now that he saw how Vash had affected Nori, so he shrugged and left. A second later, Vash asked again, "What's wrong with you Nori. You're not a sad person."

"Why are you here?" Nori demanded in return.

"Tia sent me to check up on you, she said you weren't doing well. It seems she was correct."

"Well, you go back an' tell her I don't give a damn."

"Nori?" Vash was very concerned. Nori wasn't acting like himself, like he never cursed, and he always cared what Tia Dalma thought. "What is the matter?"

Lionel closed the small screen he had held between Tia and himself with a hearty laugh. "It would seem your little plan is doing no good…How'd you contact this Vash?"

Tia smiled mysteriously. "I have me ways," she answered, but it was obvious that she was worried about Nori.

Lionel grabbed her hair and ordered, "Tell me!" but Tia gave no response. Then, he smiled in realization as he pulled a cell phone out of her bosom. "I guess you won't be making anymore phone calls."

"I forgot I has tha'. No, I no use tha'."

"I don't want to lose them again," Nori replied sadly to Vash. Vash didn't understand, so Nori continued, "It's not just me that's involved when I do these things. If it were just me, I wouldn't care."

"It's last time that's bothering you, isn't it?"

"Last night Lionel just showed up in my room and told me he would do something worse than kill me. So I was thinking, what could possibly be worse than dying?...And it came back to me."

"No one should have to watch their friends die," Vash agreed.

"Six of them! I don't even have six to lose this time. If it goes wrong, they all die."

Vash wasn't sure what to say to that. He was never much of the comforting sort, but he managed to mention, "You should tell your friends that that's what is bothering you."

"Why? So they can all be mad at me for keeping secrets from them. Sure, Sora is my best friend from this life, but none of them—**none**—know that I planned an attack on Captain CrawFish to help me cope with Chiyo dying, and they certainly don't know that six of the eleven people died doing it."

"You didn't make the plan Nori, remember that."

"Yeah, but I used it too soon. It wasn't perfected yet."

"It was as good as it was going to get. You can't blame yourself because it failed."

"What if we had waited? What if someone figured out how to perfect it and we just didn't know? What if—"

Vash interrupted, "What if Chiyo never died and made you vengeful, Nori? You can't change the past."

"But I can stop the future. What if it happens again?"

"Nori…" Vash began. "Anyone who starts scheming against CrawFish realizes they're putting themselves at risk. Your friends are out there planning without you. They're willing to take the chance…whether you're doing it with them or not. You're not out there forcing them, but what kind of friend would you be if you're not out there supporting them?"

Nori thought for a while. "What if I mess my part up?"

Vash grabbed Nori's shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry about it. Go do something that makes you happy. We'll take care of all the planning, and I'll make sure we give you something simple to do and hard to mess up."

Nori nodded slightly.

Somewhat suggesting what Nori do to cheer up, Vash added, "I think Tiara misses you."

Nori kept nodding, but then he was a little confused, "Wait! My author? I just saw her last night."

"No, I was talking about the other one."

A smile came over Nori's face just thinking about the old friend, but it faded as he remembered, "I'm not allowed to go back to Japan."

"I think we can make an exception…if you're careful. You can take your author there, show her around—if you're not, like, mad at her or anything."

"Why would I be mad at my author?"

"She is the one that killed Chiyo, isn't she? For some reason, I just never thought you would ever get along with her."

Nori frowned in confusion. He wasn't sure why he didn't want to kill me for killing Chiyo. Maybe it was because I saved his life…but he kissed me before I saved him. Maybe he just wasn't as much into revenge as he used to be. He didn't get to think about it for much longer, though, because I softly knocked on his bedroom door.

I pushed it open, because it wasn't fully closed, asking, "Can I come in Nori? Warren said you were still in here."

"Yeah," Nori agreed. Vash shifted in his chair so he could see Nori and me.

"Why aren't we with your friends, helping them?" I wondered, approaching the bed.

Nori smiled fakely, "We don't have to worry about that." I recognized that smile. It was the one I gave him to show when he was hiding something, so I just waited patiently for him to say more. "We're going to Japan, and I'll show you my hometown."

I just looked at Nori. That didn't seem like a good idea, but I wasn't sure how to say that to him. It was obvious that something was wrong. I just couldn't figure out what.

Noticing that was how I felt, Vash spoke up, "Please go with him Tiara. It's for his good, and I had to spend all morning convincing him it's what he should do. Don't make me start over."

I looked back to Nori and questioned, "Who is he?"

"That's my friend Vash," Nori answered, a hint of his normal ecstasy showing through for a second. "He's from my hometown, and I haven't seen him in like a year, and he said I should go back and see my other friends. Come on Tiara, you can meet Tiara."

"Is this what you really want to do today?"

"Yes."

"All righty then. I'm always up for a tour of _**Fiction-land**_. If you would have brought me here specifically for that purpose, I would have come."

Nori and I rode his dirt bike to Japan. The cloud cover was starting to break up, making it quite a nice day, and we just enjoyed the ride. He had to leave his bike at the gate of Japan, though. I wasn't sure why because he was talking in Japanese to the gate keeper, but I was all right with walking the rest of the way. It gave us more of a chance to talk. On the other side of the gate, Nori turned down an alleyway and stopped to get things out of his backpack. He pulled out a couple poncho-looking things and two of those Chinese hats. Handing one set to me, he began putting the other set on.

I looked at them for a second, inquiring, "What are these for Nori?"

His face became shocked as he put a finger up to shush me. "Don't say that name out loud here."

"Takeshi then?" I whispered, and he nodded in agreement. "What are these for?"

"So they don't recognize me," Nori replied quietly. Then, he explained, "CrawFish's got men who roam the streets searching for me here. That's why I don't live here anymore."

"So that's why it took your friend all morning to get you to come here," I noted as I put on the things he'd given me.

"Sure…kind of," Nori concurred, but didn't bother to explain. He just grabbed my hand and began leading me through the streets of Japan like he'd never left. For a while we didn't talk, except for when I would look up in amazement at some cool building or something and Nori would briefly explain what it was. Then, the man walking in front of us just randomly disappeared with a small popping noise.

I jumped back in surprise and questioned, "What was that?"

"He just got called to a story. He'll be just fine," Nori explained quietly, "act like you see that everyday."

"That's really strange," I muttered back through my teeth.

"What's even stranger is when he comes back to Japan, he'll be right there and won't remember what he was doing…but hey, that's the sacrifice of being a fictional character."

After a moment, I wondered, "Where are your friends?"

"I don't think I understand your question," he replied. "I'm sure you remember we left half of them at my house so that we could visit the other half here."

"No," I countered and then explained, "the friends I gave you, like Masami. Isn't he supposed to be your best friend?"

Nori laughed. "You say his name all wrong. It's Masami, not…whatever you said."

"Well, I don't have to say his name, just know how to spell it. That I can do. Plus, my question wasn't how to say his name."

Acting like he really didn't want to say it, Nori answered, "He's kind of a jerk."

"Not so Takeshi, I made him nice. You guys were friends," I responded, slightly offended.

"You can't say my name right either."

"Shut up! You're avoiding the question."

"Yes, you made a great person, but he was given an infinite amount of time away from you to turn himself into anything he wanted to be. Just because you make him do nice things doesn't mean he's gonna be that way in our real life. There's a lot of people like that."

"And all the characters in your story are mean like that?" I asked curiously.

"No, some of them just still live here in Japan. A couple are okay, we just never…clicked like Vash or Sora and I."

"What about Chiyo? Don't you like Chiyo?"

"I did," Nori stated, his face growing gloomy again.

"But you don't anymore?"

"Do I really have much of a choice?" He demanded harshly. I didn't understand what he was getting at until he continued a moment later, "Don't tell me you can't remember killing her."

I stopped walking for a second, realizing what I'd just brought up. "What? You mean she really died?" I felt horrible for that. Chiyo wasn't supposed to be dead; he was just supposed to think she was.

"Yeah." Nori continued to explain it to me, assuming that I didn't think killing a character would really kill them, "You know like how doctors say that ten minutes after a person dies it's impossible to bring them back? So if an author kills a character and doesn't bring them back in ten minutes, they **really** die. I mean, what are they going to do in _**Fiction-land**_?"

"But I didn't kill her! I just had Masami tell you she was dead." That time Nori stopped walking. He looked confused, like he was trying to remember something. I added softly, "You didn't just blindly believe him, did you?"

Nori shook his head sadly, "No, I didn't believe it at all when he said it. And when we got back from the story, Chiyo was sitting right there in my room. The first thing I asked was why she hadn't been in the story that day because I was looking forward to seeing her again after three weeks of being kidnapped. She just shrugged, saying she figured you didn't need her. I asked her if she was doing anything important, and she said no. The only real option left was that she might die, so I fell to her feet begging, 'They said you died Chiyo. Please…please, don't die.'"

Nori had to stop for a second to keep from breaking down, "She knelt next to me, seeming to be very confused, and asked, 'Who? Why? I don't think—' and then she just dis…solved. And all of her things dissolved, and everything she ever gave me…That's how people die here. I don't doubt it anymore."

I thought for a while, shivering from the cold that had returned. Nori started walking again and I mentioned sadly, "She wasn't supposed to die Takeshi. She was kidnapped, just like you. She's going to come back, as soon as we figure out who did it."

"But you didn't put that in the story," Nori stated. "You didn't write, '"I'm sorry Nori, she died while you were gone," Masami lied. In reality she had just been kidnapped, even though no one knew it.' So _**Fiction-land**_ didn't know it, and it killed her. And even if she comes back, she'll be a completely different Chiyo."

"I did it to add suspense to the story…so the readers would think—" Then I realized there was no reason to defend myself. On the verge of crying, I gathered Nori into my arms and hugged him. "I'm sorry…I didn't know you guys were real."

Nori let me hug him for a second, but then he shrugged out of my arms saying, "It's all right. I'm not mad at you."

He started walking again, glumly though, having returned almost to the same state he had been in earlier that morning. I felt terrible for sending him back into that right when he was starting to act happy again. Neither of us said anything else until we reached the top of another hill.

Gesturing down over a subdivision of Japanese looking houses, Nori stated, "That's my home." He took my hand again, and we walked down the hill hand-in-hand. I think he was trying to comfort me, but I wouldn't feel better until he felt better. All of the houses looked exactly the same to me, but somehow he knew exactly which one we were going to.

One of the ones we passed by he pointed to and said, "That's my old house," but he didn't say more than that. He saw a couple of black robots patrolling the street, so he quickly turned right to make a detour. Still he managed to find one corner house that looked just like all the corner houses and chose to knock on the door.

The door was flung open by an anime girl with giant, strawberry blonde pig-tales and this tiny, red, superhero outfit. I tried not to laugh at her by looking at Nori, but that didn't help. Nori had this excited, childish look on his face, almost like he'd just seen the largest ice cream cone in the world and his daddy said he could have it. The girl seemed like she came close to recognizing Nori. She didn't seem confident about it, though, until she took his hat off and looked into his huge eyes.

In shock, she exclaimed, "Nori! What are you doing here? Get inside before you get caught."

Nori entered the house. I went to follow, but the girl was so worried about Nori that she forgot to notice me there. She gave Nori a huge hug, squeezing him a little too tight. "It's been like a thousand years Nori! To what do I owe this visit?"

"The girl you just left outside," Nori squeaked out a reply through the hug.

"Oh," the girl realized and let go of Nori. She came back to the door and let me in just before I was going to knock again. She held out a hand to shake mine. "Hi, I'm Tiara. What's your name?"

"I'm Tiara too," I answered, shaking her hand in return. "Nori told me I'd get to meet you."

He whispered into Tiara's ear, "She's my author."

Tiara's mouth dropped open. "You actually found her?"

"I did! I found her." Yea, he was ecstatic again.

"And you haven't killed her yet?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, why don't you absolutely despise her?"

"Why does everyone ask me that? I'm excited! I'm the only character in all of _**Fiction-land**_ to have ever met their author. Wouldn't you be excited?"

Tiara looked back and forth between excited Nori and excited me. She couldn't help but laugh as she asked, "So what you been up to these days?


	7. Chapter 6 Anime tears

Yayz, new chapter. I don't think I have any new thank you's to add this time. Ooh, no I lied. Thank you to the creators of Pinocchio as well as the creators of Owen from The Cluefinder's Third Grade Adventures.

Have fun reading this chapter._  
_

* * *

_This is the first ever proven sighting of a squid this size! Found by a Japanese fishing boat, the squid was at least 80 feet from top of the head to the tip of its longest tentacle. Several digital photos as well as one of its tentacles were preserved…_

"I know Mister President,' a man said into his telephone as he flicked off the television. "The UN is working very hard to get to the bottom of this."

"The media needs some sort of response to this. The people are wondering why their worst nightmares and creatures they thought only existed in science fiction novels are wandering the streets and appearing in people's homes," Mister President replied.

"We have things under control Mister President. We have one of them in our possession," the man assured looking through a glass window to an interrogation room where he could see a young boy struggling against the restraint of several agents.

"I'm a real boy!" The young child screamed repeatedly.

The man watched his nose grow steadily longer at the same time as Mister President asked, "What is it?"

Cautiously the man answered, "I believe it would be Pinocchio."

Then he hung up the phone because he had heard Pinocchio concede, "Okay, okay, I'll tell you anything you want to know."

We enjoyed our afternoon with Tiara very much, and as long as we kept talking, Nori didn't regress back into his depressed state. It was kind of strange that as soon as there was a lull in the conversation, he would get a distant, worried look on his face. We quickly learned to just never stop talking. Eventually, though, it was time to return home. We had to leave before night because the 'robot patrol' had a strict curfew which allowed them to strip search anyone out after a certain hour. And all for Nori. What on Earth had he done?

Tiara drove us to a couple blocks away from the gate so we wouldn't have to walk so far. When the gate was in clear view, however, we noticed two Mexican men destroying Nori's bike with baseball bats. Quickly, he pulled me into the same alleyway we hid in on our way into Japan. He pulled out his video phone and started banging his head on the wall, trying to remember Tiara's number.

"We can't go out that way," he explained to me as he thought. "They're waiting for us."

I whispered back, "I know those guys. They followed me around the day you showed up at my house. Who are they?"

"They're CrawFish's eels," Nori replied shortly, deciding to start walking back to Tiara's place.

"What?" I asked because I didn't understand what he said.

"Uh…do you know Ursula, that octopus-lady?" He inquired, stepping onto a trash can.

I followed, answering, "Yeah."

He climbed onto the roof and then helped me up. "Remember how she had two eel assistants who would go gather victims for her, and she could see through their eyes?" I nodded in agreement. "Well, CrawFish has a couple assistants too, that always show up right before he does."

"Oh." I understood then. After a few moments, I wondered, "Are we gonna walk all the way back to Tiara's?"

"Nah," Nori responded, "She's got a friend that lives in one of these houses. Once I recognize it, we'll knock on their door and see if they've got her number."

We walked silently across a few flat roofs. On either the fourth or fifth one, Nori tripped over an almost invisible fishing line stretched from one end to the other. He fell flat on his face, letting it show that it hurt a little. When red lights began flashing all around and a siren went off, Nori sat up smiling.

"We found it," was all he said.

A split second later an animated pirate was on the roof with a club in each hand and a sword in his mouth. He let them all drop to the ground and asked curiously, "Do I know you from somewhere?"

Nori smiled embarrassedly, "Yep."

The man turned off the alarm and questioned, "What are you doing here?"

"I need Tiara's telephone number."

The man invited us in and then called Tiara for us. Before saying anything else, he held the phone up to Nori's face and asked Tiara if she recognized him. She said she did, so the pirate handed the phone over to Nori. Nori told Tiara what had just happened, and she agreed to come back to get us from the pirate's house. We didn't leave when she showed up, though.

She dumped a bunch of stuff on the pirate's table and stated, "These otta make you unrecognizable."

Nori fingered through the items Tiara had brought. Holding up one of her puny, superhero outfits, he joked, "Awesome, I always wanted to wear this!"

"Not you," Tiara countered, grabbing the outfit from Nori. "This is for her."

I looked at Tiara in shock. She wanted **me** to wear that?

Confirming my fears, she tossed it to me, commanding, "Go put it on. We'll work on you first."

I did as she asked, and it actually fit really well. All except for the bust, that is. She was much larger than me in that regard. At first, she just laughed at me because it looked strange. After an outburst from both her and Nori, however, she took a kimono from the table and stuffed it down the shirt.

She explained, "This is in case you think someone has found you out. Go into some alleyway and throw this on." She stood back for a second to think of what she would need to do next. "Your face is not anime," she muttered to herself, "you need a new haircut. I can't make your eyes bigger, but…" She grabbed the scissors from the table and started cutting my hair.

In the end she put a bunch of gel in it, so it looked all spiky. It was so not me. While that was the point, I wasn't sure I would be able to live with it like that until my next hair appointment. It almost looked like I was from the eighties, only more anime-ish. Nori laughed at me when Tiara turned my chair around so the pirate and he could see me. I felt like I needed a dog collar and a lip ring.

After a moment of wanting to cry, I wondered, "But what if I change into the kimono? Wouldn't this hair be a little exotic for that?"

"Ah-ha, you're wrong," Tiara corrected. "If you must change into the kimono, get your hair wet, brush the bangs down, tie these parts back with this ribbon," she took the ribbon and tied it around my arm like a bandana, "and re-gel the bottom parts. You'll look much calmer like that."

Then Tiara turned to Takeshi, "Now you Nori. We've gotta make you match her."

Nori stopped laughing for the first time since we got to the pirate's house. I, on the other hand, would have fun with this. Tiara threw him some really baggy, holy, camo pants and a white tank top. The pirate got assigned to take care of his jewelry—which meant we got to pierce Nori's ear because pirates like that kind of jewelry. He tried to make it seem like it hadn't hurt, but Tiara and I knew it had. The pirate also gave him a silver necklace fully accompanied by the necessary bling, and a chain to hang from his pants.

Tiara spent the whole time dying Nori's hair; though, only she knew what color it was. I got to give Nori fake tattoos with a semi-permanent pen. I started with just lines on his fingers, which confused him at first, but it quickly became obvious that I was drawing spider webs up his arms. Both webs ended at the inside of his elbows with a tarantula. The tarantula on the left arm was much better than the one I drew on the right arm, so I added a skull and crossbones to his right shoulder to make up for it.

His hair ended up light blue in the end. She put a lot of extra gel in his hair too, so it stood up more than normal. It seemed a strange combination at first, but we all agreed that it looked good once Tiara gave him some small, square glasses, especially if he was standing next to me. Tiara then took his backpack—which looked all right with our new styles—and stuffed a suit and dress shoes in it for Nori to change into when I changed into the kimono. Realizing she didn't have much time to admire her masterpieces, she kissed Nori on the forehead, gave me a hug, and then assigned the pirate to make sure we made it home.

From there we went to a Japanese bullet train and rode it all the way across Japan to the other gate. We were sitting across from each other, so that each of us had a full three seats to ourselves, when I noticed that he was falling back into depression. I was about to say something, but two blonde anime girls sat down on either side of him, squishing him a little bit. They started chatting with him in Japanese. I couldn't understand what they were saying, obviously, but I could tell they liked him by the embarrassed look that came over Nori's squished face.

One of the girls was obsessed with his tarantula tattoos. That I could tell. Nori tried to stay in character, but every time he looked over to me, we both almost broke out laughing. The girl who wasn't obsessed with the tattoos was on her knees on the seat to Nori's left fingering his hair. She kissed his temple lightly and then whispered a question into his ear. He looked almost as embarrassed as when I first recognized him and was trying to figure out if he was real. He smiled slightly and looked to me like I had to find the way out of this.

"What did she want?" I lipped silently.

"What?" Nori lipped back, apparently not able to read lips. That was a talent I'd have to give him later.

Suddenly, an idea came to me and I stated randomly, "Maybe we should dye your hair blue more often, eh Takeshi?"

Nori smiled a thank you but instantly had to fake a shocked look when the two girls glared at him.

One asked in Japanese, "Who is she?"

Not exactly sure how to respond, Nori swallowed and then went back to his first explanation as to who I was. "A cousin," Nori growled through his teeth, also in Japanese, as he stood up and approached me. He pulled me to my feet and muttered, "I thought I told you not to interrupt me."

I was out of ideas again but was saved by an announcement that the train was nearing the next stop. Calmly, I replied, "We can't have you missing our stop, can we? Mom wants you there **before** the wedding starts."

Nori grumbled, and the two of us exited the train, quietly followed by the pirate. As the train pulled away, the two girls looked to each other in surprise as if saying, "They're going to a wedding dressed like that?"

"The wedding?" Nori asked when we got off the train. "What could possibly have prompted you to say we were going to a wedding at this time of night?"

I smiled embarrassedly. "It worked, didn't it?" I noted.

"Yeah, thanks. She asked me to go skinny dipping with her."

I broke out in laughter and Nori quickly followed suit. The pirate, however, mentioned, "You should have said yes."

"What?" Nori asked cheerfully.

"As a pirate, I know. When you find a girl, you take advantage of the opportunity. But now, we're just standing here waiting for the next train."

I smiled slightly at the difference in cultures between the three of us. Nori wiped his face and leaned against a pillar, distantly waiting for the next train to arrive. Worried about how he had been acting that day—and since no one had told me anything about what was causing him to act that way—I walked over to him. After giving him a second to start some other conversation on his own, I brought up the subject.

"Takeshi…" I began. I gave him a moment to respond, but since he didn't, I continued, "Whatch'ya thinkin' 'bout?"

"Nothing," he replied dully.

"It's obvious your mind is somewhere else Takeshi...You can't lie to your author…I gave you that look."

"This place has a lot of memories."

"Some of them aren't such good memories, I suppose," I probed.

"Yeah, I guess." He shifted uncomfortably. Remembering what Vash had told him earlier, he knew that he should really tell me the story, but he didn't want to. "You know how everyone keeps asking why I don't wanna kill you, and all?" He began. Then, he continued, "I didn't react too well to Chiyo dying is all. I did some things I probably shouldn't have because I was angry. None of it turned out too well."

"So, being here makes you feel guilty?" I asked, starting to get the picture.

"Sure."

Still hoping he would explain more, I let the tension grow by creating an awkward silence. I could tell it was getting to him because he ran his fingers through his hair, itched his nose, and started swinging his foot. All of those were quirks I gave him when he was nervous. I laughed a little, just because I couldn't help it. It was too easy to read him. He shot a glare at me, not quite understanding why I was laughing at him.

Thinking it was in some way related to the conversation we had been holding, he defended, "Hey, I needed someone to blame, okay? You weren't exactly around yet, so CrawFish made for a good target. I got ten of my friends together to help me take him out. It was a good plan too…have you ever heard of the Bottomless Pits of Doom?"

"You mean the ones in the ancient Sumerian city, from that video game?" I questioned, thinking I knew of the right pit.

Nori thought for a second. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure Owen was from a game."

All of a sudden it dawned on me where he had gotten that video phone from because I hadn't given it to him, but I just let Nori continue, "Anyways, he told us about the place, where CrawFish would fall and fall eternally with no end or way of getting out. It seemed like a good idea, 'cuz we couldn't kill him or get rid of him any other way. We had a perfect way into the forest straight to his castle, 'cuz we converted one of his guards to our side, and eleven of us could surely drag him to the pits. There was only one little problem."

Then, he stopped, and I had to nudge him along again. "What was it?" I wondered.

He pointed into empty space towards the upper left corner of the station. "Cameras. CrawFish's got 'em scattered about _**Fiction-land**_ so that he can watch over ever inch of what goes on."

"So he can hear everything? How are we supposed to make a plot—"

"No, silly, not everything. That would take way to much work. The cameras have a built in word scanner that sets off an alert anytime someone says one of a hundred words on his list—like his name, or my name if you're in Japan, or that word on ships that means the crew rebels against the captain."

"Oh, mut—"

"Don't say it!" He interrupted. "When a camera catches one of those words, it tells the guards. Then the guard will watch the whole conversation from a couple minutes before the word to a couple minutes after the word to see if there was any 'questionable content.' We didn't know that though. The whole plan was laced with rebellious words. We didn't even make it a block away from my house before CrawFish showed up."

"And then?" I prompted when Nori had stopped again.

"He took us to the Bottomless Pits…I'd rather not say all of what happened. Tia Dalma had to save Vash, Tiara, Usagi and her sister Chibiusa, me, and someone else."

"Chisagu and Hubi-who-sa?" I questioned, very confused.

"Usagi and Chibiusa…" Nori corrected, but realizing I didn't recognize the names he clarified, "Sailor Moon and her little sister Rini…The other five died, in the closest sense of the word."

"Usagi and Chibiusa…" Nori corrected, but realizing I didn't recognize the names he clarified, "Sailor Moon and her little sister Rini…The other five died, in the closest sense of the word…hung eternally in space with nowhere to go and nothing to do."

"Oh," I muttered sadly. That would be a hard thing to live with. For a while I was lost in thought, still wondering what exactly had happened, but knowing I didn't want to know. Nori obviously didn't want to tell me either. I hadn't meant to create another silence, but one was starting to creep in. Nori was being affected by this silence just like all the others, falling back to that night…

Nori was laying on the ground around ten feet away from Lionel who was holding a boy Nori didn't recognize over the edge of the pits. Nori had a strange pain in his lower back and knew he couldn't get up again. He tried anyway, knowing he couldn't watch **another** friend fall into the dark hole. Less than a foot off the ground, he collapsed back onto his face. Lionel laughed, coming toward Nori to kick him once again.

Chibiusa broke away from her older sister's grasp and ran between Nori and the lobster, shouting, "You can't hurt Nori-san any more!"

Lionel just laughed again, slightly lowering the young boy. "And what will you do about it, young lady?"

"I, Chibiusa Tsukino, acting as chief Sailor Chibi Moon, will fight you to protect my friend," she stated firmly, planting herself in the ready position.

Usagi ran to her side. "No, Chibiusa! You can't fight him." When Lionel took another step toward them, however, Usagi stood in front of her sister. She too was willing to die for Nori.

"Nori…Nori…Nori!" Pulled him out of his thoughts. It was me, and when he finally looked at me, I asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he answered after a little delay. He sniffed and leaned his head back against the wall.

"Right Nori," I agreed sarcastically. "You're about to cry."

"Am not," he countered, "and remember, don't use that name."

"Nori, Takeshi didn't get your attention…" He turned away from me, biting his lip, so I grabbed his chin to make him look at me. "You can cry if you want to."

"No I can't. What kind of gangsteh with spider web tattoos cries in a subway station?"

"What kind of gangsteh is named 'Bamboo Tree'?" I retorted to nullify his excuse. "Nori, anime tears are magical."

He laughed through his watering eyes. "Anime tears aren't magical. What made you think that?"

"Yes, they are Nori. Every anime tear I have ever seen has been accompanied by a magical 'ding' noise when it falls." I took his cheeks in my hands and squeezed them together, so they bunched up around his eyes, making him look funny. Then, I continued in a really strange voice, "Cry Nori. It'll make you happy."

Nori smiled and pushed my hands away. "Yeah, right," he muttered, walking over to a bench a few feet away and sitting. Instantly, his mind drifted back to where he had been before…

If the two girls were going to keep fighting, Nori was going to join them. He took a deep breath, mustered all his strength, and ignored the pain it took to get to his knees. He took a break there, closing his eyes to blink away the pain moving had caused. It was certainly more than just laying there. Nori never got a chance to climb to his feet, though.

Noticing that Nori was trying to get up, Lionel declared, "If you get up again, I'll slice the boy's head off before dropping him over." The boy was once again being held directly over the pit, Lionel's claw at his throat. The boy was sobbing and had been the whole time.

Helplessly, Nori fell back to the ground, gaining only the slightest comfort from the warm presence of Vash's hand on his shoulder. Nori buried his face in the dirt, asking himself, _Why did you do this? How could you force yourself to lose everyone in the same day?_ He couldn't watch the boy die, not after watching Owen and half of his other friends die. His eyes had been watering ever since they arrived at the pits, but when he closed his eyes that time, one single tear dropped down his nose and into the dirt.

He didn't open his eyes again until he heard a familiar voice enter the area, saying, "That's enough Lionel." It sounded more like, "Daz enou' Lee-nel."

Nori turned his head to the side so he could see who this new person was. She stood there between Lionel and the four friends in a ripped and dirty dress which looked like it was from a couple hundred years ago, and her hair was a mess.

Lionel recognized her immediately and exclaimed, "Tia Dalma! You're just in time for the climatic ending."

"Ees over Lee-nel. Go back to ya fancy palace an' lea'e (leave) deez poor kiz alone."

Lionel protested, "You're not involved in this Tia. They tried to kill me."

Tia Dalma grabbed the sobbing boy from Lionel's claw. "Seez friends eez too many to lose een one day. Dey's learned der lesson…Go."

After a few seconds, Lionel gave in. "Fine," he growled as he walked off, "but next time I'll get you…Nori-san."

Tia Dalma walked the young boy over to the four of us and handed him over to Usagi.

Nori's friends looked at Tia Dalma in shock, Usagi managing to ask, "Are you really the Tia Dalma?"

"Der's only one Tia Dalma kiz," Tia responded kindly.

"Thank you," Vash stated, knowing that if she hadn't shown up, all of them would probably have died—or spent an eternity waiting for their authors to kill them.

Tia Dalma didn't make it seem like a big deal at all, simply brushing Usagi and Chibiusa to the side a ways so she could kneel next to Nori. She lifted his head and warned, "Be careful kiz. Lee-nel don't geev up so easy." The look on Nori's face made her add, "Poor boy," as she clicked her tongue and tried to help him to his feet.

Nori's eyes rolled to the back of his head about halfway up, and he limply fell back to the ground with a groan. Tia Dalma clicked her tongue again.

Then, she ordered Vash, "Get da poor kid t 'a doctor." She lifted Nori's face one last time, and since he barely opened his eyes at her, she noted, "Chiyo wouldn't be proud of ye fer dis," before she walked away.

Nori was brought back to reality that time by a warm drop of something hitting his hand. He had started to cry again, he realized as he stared in a daze at his hands folded in his lap. A cold wind chilled his wet cheeks as the bullet train pulled up. _Great,_ he thought, _I can't go on there crying like this._ Then, a hand clutched his hands. It was my hand.

I whispered comfortingly in his ear, "It's all right Takeshi. I'm sure whoever you're crying for would be proud of you for trying."

He sighed and stood up to get on the train. "No, Tiara, they're not…but on second thought," he continued, trying to appear cheerful, "my tears might be magical."

We didn't say much between getting back on the train and arriving in _**Fantasy-land**_. No other girls tried to flirt with Nori either, since he was now crying and depressed looking. We got off the train at the gate with no problems, and rode a taxi back to the _**Fantasy-land**_ gate. Nori told Short Stuff the right password this time, and we started on our trek back to his house. We decided to walk to Kairi's house first, so Nori could drop me off like a proper gentleman, but about a block away we were suddenly surrounded by strange, short black creatures with long fingers and antennae.

Nori muttered under his breath, "Damn them Heartless."

"What do you mean Heartless?" I asked curiously as I looked nervously from one dark creature to the next.

"You knew who Sora was," Nori mentioned. "Don't you know his enemies too?" He and the pirate stood back to back with me in the middle to form some sort of protection.

"There should be someone here who controls them any minute," the pirate said.

"We're not waiting for that!" Nori exclaimed as he shook one off from biting his arm. "You've got all the weapons Dude. I need something to fight with."


	8. Chapter 7 Writers' Block

Eh, I don't believe I have anyone new to thank this time. Oh well.

* * *

The pirate tossed a saber over my head to Nori, who caught it and began slashing at the Heartless. The pirate himself had taken out a couple clubs to fight the black creatures as well. Knowing that I too would want something to do, Nori threw me his video phone when he got a second and ordered, "Call Sora and tell him that if he don't get his butt over here right now…" He got distracted for a moment as the number of Heartless grew even larger.

I didn't wait for him to finish his sentence, however. I immediately began flipping through the phone numbers he had in his contacts list. By the time I got to the 'k's I realized I should have started at the end of the list because Nehemiah, Roxas, Sora, Vash, and Warren all started with letters at the end of the alphabet. Roxas and Nehemiah turned out to not be on the list—maybe they didn't have phones—so I called Sora like Nori had said.

When Sora answered the phone, I just screamed because I had been tackled that instant by one of the Heartless. I swatted at it, but to no avail. My arm just went right through the creature. The pirate smacked it on its back and it dissolved into black particles. Then I was able to turn back to the phone.

"What's wrong?" Sora asked. He was obviously very concerned after he heard me scream.

"The Heartless!" I exclaimed. "They're…they're…"

"Where are you Tiara?"

"Somewhere by Kairi's house…I think. Aren't we Nori?"

Nori slid to my side as if he were a baseball player. "Yeah," he assured Sora, "like right next to her house. If she walked out the front door and waved at us, we could see her."

"What's going on?" Sora wondered.

"I'm not sure. Something went wrong. Just get here Sora." Nori and I were suddenly overtaken by the Heartless. He had to beat them all back from around us for a second. It was strange to me how it seemed every one that Nori or the pirate made dissolve came back as two or three more.

When Sora saw with his own eyes what was going on, he finished, "Oh, okay. We're on our way," and he hung up as Nori helped me to my feet. The pirate was viciously swinging away at the Heartless. Nori, on the other hand, waited patiently and protectively for the creatures to attack the two of us before slashing.

Realizing that I had become a burden for him, I suggested, "Would it help if I fought too?"

Nori shrugged distractedly. "Ask the pirate. He's the one with weapons to spare."

I waited for a moment when the path between the pirate and I seemed less dangerous and then made a dash toward him. About halfway there, there was an odd POP!, which made me jump backwards, and the pirate disappeared. Nori looked down to his now empty hands where was once held a saber. The pirate had been called to a story, and now the two of us were entirely weaponless against a thousand Heartless.

Nori and I looked around helplessly as the Heartless closed further and further in on us. Both of us had given in, when I saw a comforting figure in the distance.

"Master Windu!" I shouted, waving my arms at the cloaked man down the street. "Please help us Master Windu!"

Nori pulled my arm back down demanding, "Dude, what are you doing?" He seemed to be very shocked.

Honestly, I answered, "I'm asking for help. Do you have a problem with that?"

With a sigh, Nori explained, "Did you notice that the Heartless stopped attacking, but they're hanging around like they're waiting for a signal? Who do you think they're waiting for?"

"I don't know," I replied thinking to myself, _Why on Earth are you asking me that right now?_

"He's the only person around right now," Nori gestured to Windu. "Doesn't that say something to you?"

I laughed. "Master Windu does not control the Heartless, Nori. For one: he's not even from the same game. And two: he's not a bad guy."

"How many times do I have to tell you? People here aren't the same as the way you see them. Master Windu is dead. That is an evil replica of him, and because of you, he's coming towards us."

"Sorry," I squeaked, beginning to back away.

Taking off his backpack, Nori knelt to the ground and started digging through it. After taking everything out, he pulled out the dress shoes Tiara had put in there. He looked at them in depressed shock and then turned the whole backpack upside down to see if anything unexpected would fall out. Nothing did.

"This is all we have!" He exclaimed, picking the shoes back up. "I can't fight a light saber with dress shoes!" Nori turned to me frustratedly, noticing that I was in tall, high-heeled boots. It was easy to tell by the expression on his face that he'd come up with an idea. "Can I have your shoes?"

I agreed and quickly tried to take them off. It probably was pretty funny to watch me hopping around, yanking on my feet, but I managed to get them to Nori just as Windu reached us. Nori grabbed one in each hand and swung them around like they were num-chucks, or something. Windu immediately activated his light saber, and in only a few seconds, the boots were completely useless, having been shredded to pieces. Nori dropped them to the ground with an embarrassed smile. Picking up his dress shoes, he chucked them at Windu. The Jedi, however, was easily able to deflect them with his light saber.

"Stupid medichlorians!" Nori shouted, bending over to take off one of his shoes and throwing that at Windu as well.

"Is this always what happens when people write fanfiction about dead characters?" I asked, nervously backing further away from Windu.

"Not always, but a lot of the time," Nori replied. Then he added, "Chiyo could come back like this."

"I swear from this day on to never write stories about people who have already died."

Nori laughed slightly as he took off his other shoe. We didn't have many choices but to keep trying. With a determined and vicious, yet crazy, rabid expression, Nori yelled, "Go, go gadget Anime-arms-are-to-fast-for-Jedi-to-see!" He began flailing his arms in a way I thought possible only in cartoon strips and then let go of the shoe at a moment he thought Windu wouldn't expect it. Still, the force allowed Windu to easily deflect the projectile.

Nori dropped his head, clenching his fists and closing his eyes in frustration. After a second's worth of thought with no results, he ripped his fake glasses off and threw them at the ground.

"You wanna cuss, don't you?" I questioned.

"Yes!" Nori agreed through his teeth.

"It's okay. I know how you feel."

At that moment, the evil Jedi took a large leap toward us, and Nori pushed me back ordering, "Tiara, stay behind me."

"Why?" I wondered, unable to hold back my curiosity, but I obeyed.

"Because," Nori answered, "he needs to have a computer to kill me. If he cuts your head off, you'll really die."

Windu laughed slightly, making his first noise of the night, and dropped his arms to his side. That was the signal the Heartless had been waiting for. They suddenly gathered behind us and began attacking again. Nori tried to protect me on both sides, running from one to the other. He still didn't have anything to protect me with, though, just his own body.

Convinced he only had one option, Nori closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and tackled me, commanding, "Get down!" I fell to my hands and knees, and he tried to cover every inch of my body with his. He pushed my head down so it wouldn't stick out. Then, softly he whispered, "I'm sorry," as we just waited for an end to come.

It wasn't very long before the Heartless began to crawl all over Nori. He was absolutely silent, though, doing nothing more than protecting me. Windu seemed to have grown tired of waiting because he raised his lightsaber high above his head to strike. Neither of us moved as the blade came soaring down. It never hit us. We heard the clash of laser on metal and looked up to see Sora using all his strength to counter the force of the Jedi with his giant key.

Nori sighed in relief that we weren't dead yet, but even if Sora took care of Windu, we still had all the Heartless to fight with no weapons. Sora shoved Windu extra hard to give himself a second to talk to us. He helped Nori and I to our feet and then handed Nori his key.

Making a new one for himself from particles in the air and deflecting the next blow from Windu, he greeted, "Use that one; it's Roxas's. And what's with the blue hair?"

Nori immediately began to fight off the Heartless from around me, replying, "That's the only reason we actually made it all the way back to Kairi's house."

I frowned, asking Nori, "You can actually use that key? I thought you had to be chosen by the key."

Sora laughed a bit, answering as quickly as he could, "Life isn't a game girl."

I rolled my eyes. "So that's different too." I felt really helpless as Sora and Nori tried their bests to protect me. If only I could do something to help. This was annoying. Sora took an extra hard blow from Windu who powerfully pushed Sora down on one knee. It looked like the key was starting to melt too. As Sora and Windu were locked in that position, each trying to out power the other, and Nori slashed away at the Heartless, a ring of fire flashed up from my right. It spread around us, killing all of the Heartless, but leaving the four people unharmed.

Appearing through the flames was the face of Warren. I smiled. That made things much easier. Taking advantage of the fact that he now had no one to fight, Nori decided he would help Sora take out Windu. Before he got there, however, the evil Jedi flipped over Sora's head to confront the new threat Warren. Sora looked exhausted, gripping at his throbbing muscles. He was grateful for the break.

Warren didn't get to challenge Windu either. As the two warriors approached one another, a large circle appeared behind them that looked kind of like the portal from Stargate. Quickly I realized what it was, and both Sora and I stared at it thinking, _Oh God, no!_ Just as we had expected, a strange redhead appeared through the gel-like center and walked directly to Windu.

"Axel," I stated excitedly, having recognized the man. Sora looked at me with one eyebrow raised as if asking, "And you're excited why?"

Axel grabbed Windu by the neck of his cloak and stated, "You failed. Let me handle the fire king." He roughly shoved the evil Jedi back through the portal and then turned to Warren. "You think you know a lot about fire? We'll see about that."

We got to watch Warren form a fire ball like he had at the tavern and fling it at Axel. Axel easily deflected it, however, or more absorbed it. We didn't get to watch any more than that, though, because Axel formed a ring of fire around the two of them. None of us could see what was going on after that. All of us were worried for Warren, but that was only for a second. Instantly, we were distracted by a string of other people coming from the portal.

"And Demyx!" I exclaimed upon seeing the first who was blonde with a weird mullet.

"Again," Sora complained, "why are you happy about this?"

I just kept naming them off, "And Xigbar, and Saix, and Zexion, and Lexaeus, and Larxene, and Xaldin, and Luxord, and Marluxia, and Vexen, and Xemnas…Hey wait. That's all of them, except Roxas of course. All thirteen!"

Sora just stared at me in confusion, and after that Nori joined him, asking, "You know all of their names? All thirteen of them? Sora doesn't even know all of their names. If you know everyone in Organization XIII, how come you didn't know what the Heartless were?"

"I know who the Heartless are. At first, I just didn't think they were the same Heartless. Plus, I have a friend who's kind of obsessed with Organization XIII. She's dating Axel in her head." That didn't make the strange looks go away, so I defended, "Hey, he turns good at the end. Don't forget that."

None of them seemed to remember that, but I didn't get to pursue the issue further. Sora looked ahead with this horrible look of discontent mixed with a knowledge that he was about to lose. With a sigh, he made two more keys and handed one to me.

"You're gonna need this," he said blandly.

I accepted the key in shock, questioning, "You mean we're actually going to fight them?"

"We don't have much of a choice, now do we?"

"We could always surrender!" I suggested.

That brought a muffled laugh from Sora. "Surrender? They don't know what the word means. They'll still fight us. At least if we fight back, we're guaranteed a couple seconds to pray for a miracle."

I swallowed, thinking hard about what fighting to the end would be like, and Sora mumbled softly, "If I had known the whole organization would show up, I wouldn't have come."

Nori and I glared at him, appalled that he would say that, but Xemnas mentioned, _"And you would have been better off for it. Our orders were only to kill the girl, but I have matters of my own to attend to with you Denizen of the Light. All of our hard work to create our Kingdom Hearts—all ruined by you and your accomplices. We have to begin anew with our gathering of hearts..."_

_"A lovely start with that first helping of Heartless just now," added Saïx. _

_Xemnas seemed to have noticed that he had been ranting before the interruption. "But first things first..." His red sabers came into view_. All the other members followed, each one creating their own personal weapons.

Luxord added softly from behind us, "This way we can kill two birds with one die."

When Sora turned to look at Luxord, something seemed to dawn on him. "They're here for you," he muttered. Sora glanced around at all eleven people surrounding us to figure out where to start. Finally, he pointed to one of them. "See him, the blonde one with the guitar thing?"

"Demyx," I agreed.

"Yeah, when he plays music he makes these silver looking things that wave back and forth like this." Sora tried to demonstrate the waving, which looked kind of funny.

"Dusks," I wondered, vaguely remembering that everyone could make Dusks, but Sora didn't explain further. Apparently he didn't have enough time to tell me that he chose Demyx's Dusks in particular because Demyx didn't really enjoy fighting and tended to get distracted, which could make things more controllable for me.

"That's your job 'cuz they're the easiest to fight, just like the Heartless. Stay away from that one with the guns."

"Xigbar."

"Sure, 'cuz you can't just fight guns, so if you get a chance, take this rock and hit the guy with the shield. Then you'll have some protection from it for a second…and that's all the longer this'll last."

I didn't argue. Then, the fire ring next to us disappeared and Warren was thrown to the ground, unconscious. Axel joined the other eleven members of the Organization. He had hardly even broken a sweat. His return seemed to be a signal to start the battle because Marluxia and Saix were instantly upon Sora and Nori. Saix was vicious and fast, making him hard to fight. It seemed Nori didn't even get a chance to recover from one attack before the next one came. Sora wasn't having an easier time fighting Marluxia, who seemed a bit overconfident because his giant weapon was like ten times better than Sora's two keys.

Demyx too was about to attack. After all, I was supposed to fight him, so wasn't he supposed to fight me? However, he stopped when Zexion—who was more of a strategist than a fighter—grabbed his arm. Zexion whispered something to Demyx which caused him to just stand at a distance, watching the battle with his arms crossed. I knew they did that on purpose to foil Sora's plan. That meant trying to get the shield from Vexen probably wouldn't work either, but I knew I couldn't just stand there, or I would make a perfect target for Mister Sharpshooter. Of course, I didn't know that Xigbar didn't really fight that much. Even if I had known that, standing there was making me feel horribly uncomfortable, knowing my friends were trying so hard.

Sora had told me I could fight off Demyx's attack, the Dusks, so I figured I could fight Demyx himself since he apparently couldn't use his weapon. I charged towards him, and his eyes widened for a second. I don't think I scared him, though. He was probably just wondering what made me do that. Just before I reached Demyx, Nori jumped between the two of us. His keyblade hitting mine stopped me in mid-step.

"Stupid, don't do that!" He shouted. "You'll never defeat one of them."

I wanted to say something smart in reply, but before I had gotten any thoughts in order, we were surrounded by the suit of diamonds. Yes, thirteen giant playing cards were circling Nori and I at high speeds. From the things my friend had told me, I knew that was a bad sign. Then, we heard Demyx strike a chord on the guitar-like instrument called a sitar. Apparently, he was no longer banned from the fight. The created Dusks attacked Sora. Everything was attacking Sora, and it seemed like the Organization was gaining pleasure from prolonging things.

Nori got a look of realization on his face and whispered, "Turn around." I obeyed so that we faced the same direction with him standing behind me. I wasn't sure what his idea was, even after he quietly ordered, "When I say so, throw the rock as fast as you can." We just waited in silence for whatever Nori was listening to.

A moment later, he shouted, "Now," at what seemed a random time. I hadn't heard a thing, and nothing had changed in the spinning cards—which were starting to make me dizzy. Still, I threw the rock immediately, with no questions. As soon as the rock left my hand, Nori held his key in front of me.

I stared in shock as the moment before the rock would have hit the cards, the cards disappeared. The rock instead slammed right into the forehead of Luxord, knocking him out cold. I grinned gleefully as he fell to the ground. I was so excited that I hardly noticed some projectile fly toward us at the exact same moment, but that was what Nori had put the key in front of me for. It protected us and then dissolved from the strain of deflecting something like that.

Nori hugged me excitedly. "Oh my God Tiara, it really worked!" I just screamed back in momentary bliss. Our celebration was short lived, however, as Nori quickly grabbed my key from my hand. He used it to deflect one attack from Marluxia's colossal scythe, but that key dissolved too.

Confused, Nori looked at his once again empty hands and shouted over to Sora, "Sora, you're keys are disappearing!"

Sora didn't say anything in return, so Nori looked over to see what was going on. Surrounded on one side by Dusks and on the other by Saix, Sora rested weakly on his hands and knees. Both of his keys were gone too, and it was obvious that the job we left him had been too hard for him to handle. Having a flashback from the last battle that killed all his friends caused Nori to rush toward Sora's side.

He didn't make it there, though. Only a few feet away from me, he was knocked to the ground by the handle of Marluxia's scythe. Nori tried to crawl back to his feet. The blade of the scythe was instantly at his throat, so he just stayed on his knees, leaning back onto his heels.

Larxene, the only other girl there, commented rudely to me, "It seems, little Sora fan, that you've fallen down on your end."

I looked first to her and then back to Sora. Even though Nori had just tried it and failed, I would feel horrible if I didn't try to help him, so I too ran across the street to where Sora was. Surprisingly, I made it. For a second I looked around wondering why no one had tried to kill me. Like I said before, though, they were prolonging it for entertainment reasons. They didn't really think I would be of any help to Sora.

I knelt by his side for comfort, and he simply used all of his energy to make me one last key. Did he want me to protect him, or myself? Or did he just want me to prove to them that I could fight the Dusks? I didn't know, but I took the key and ran into the swarm of Dusks to kill as many as I could. While I was doing that, Saix grabbed Sora by the shirt and held him up in the air a bit. I didn't pay any attention to what they were saying—if they were saying anything at all. I had never held a sword in my life, so it took all of my concentration just to swing the giant key around.

I did notice when Demyx stopped playing to exclaim, "She's actually doing it! Yea Tiara!"

"You idiot," Axel insulted, slapping him upside the head, "she's beating you."

That made me laugh, and I felt flattered. Even though I had hardly accomplished anything, both Axel and Demyx took the time to complement me. I also noticed a moment later when the moon darkened without going behind a cloud.

It was apparently something important because Sora mentioned loud enough for me to hear, "Hey look Saix! The moon's gone."

I looked over to the two of them and saw fear flash across Saix's face. Sora wanted me to fight him, I realized. Instantly, I abandoned the Dusks and charged toward Saix. I slashed at him one time, which he wasn't expecting. It caused him to drop Sora to the ground. That probably hurt Sora, but he had enough hope now to keep the key in my hand.

Saix stumbled backwards, noting, "That actually hurt."

Feeling victorious—even if it was only in the slightest—I raised to strike again. He would have prepared to fight back, except for one little thing. Lionel appeared behind me and grabbed my wrist in his claw. I turned to face him in shock. That was why the moon had disappeared!

Lionel chuckled slightly at my expression—or maybe it was my make-over. "You've managed to survive my attacks for quite a while, Young Lady," he complimented spitefully. "Clearly, it's all chance that you're still alive, but your guardian angel Tia Dalma insists that I not kill you because you obviously don't understand the order of things around here. So I agreed…for today."

He paused for a second to make us get a false sense of freedom and then continued, "However…I couldn't possibly let all this hard work it took to catch you go unrewarded." He threw me to my hands and knees, forcing me to join my three friends on the ground. Turning to leave, he ordered either Xemnas or the Organization in general, "Round them up and send them to Writers' Block for a week…all of them."

None of us fought back this time, as none of my friends had the strength, and I just didn't have the ability. Xemnas took the command literally, so instead of bringing us to wherever this Writers' Block place was, he just opened a portal and shoved us all through it. On the other end of the portal was a large, dark, stone room, with one other homeless-looking man in it. I wanted to ask my friends where we were, but Warren was still unconscious. Sora too, knowing the fighting was over, passed out the moment he hit the floor. Nori didn't even show up in the room. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep that night from the happenings of the day and the questions flooding my head, so I just sat there with my head leaned against the wall.

Sora woke up before Warren did, but it was mid-morning when he first opened his eyes. Forgetting, for a moment, the fight the previous night, he tried to get up from lying face down on the floor. He couldn't even push himself a millimeter off the floor, and he certainly hadn't been expecting the excruciating pain to tear through his chest like it did. Letting out a loud moan, he was able to catch my attention.

I scooted over to him, happy to see someone awake, and ruffled his hair saying, "Yea, Sora's awake!"

He responded with a series of groans and mumbles, one of which sounded a little like, "Bleh." I wasn't sure whether he didn't want to talk or just didn't know what to say. Deciding he was like Becca or Dusty, I decided to give him a minute to realize he was awake before trying to talk to him.

I was right because several seconds later Sora muttered, "I told you if we fought back we'd get a chance at a miracle."

Looking around for a moment, I mentioned, "I don't know that I'd call this place a miracle. What is it anyways?"

"It's Writers' Block," he replied, pausing to painfully roll onto his back. "Don't you remember that?"

"Yeah."

"Then what's the question?" He suddenly realized he had a headache and reached a hand to his face. "Haven't you heard of Writers' Block?"

"Yeah, I've had it before. But what does this building have to do with those times that an author can't figure out what to write next?" I had been trying to figure that out all night.

Sora smiled a little as another voice asked, "Isn't it obvious?" Warren, the voice, wandered over to us and sat down with his legs spread, leaning his arms on his knees. Either he hadn't gotten beat as bad as Sora had, or he could recover much quicker because I was certain Sora couldn't walk yet.

Warren's question made me think, and then a solution crossed my mind. "No way," I stated, mostly to myself, in disbelief that my answer could possibly be it. "This place is why we can't figure out what to write next?"

"Precisely."

Sora continued to explain, "You see, the signals that go from the computers to us when a story is going on can't make it through the walls…and the signals that take us away to the story can't make it through the walls either. We're stuck here, so you literally can't write a thing about that character."

I had to think about that for a while. It made so much sense that it was almost too apparent. Suddenly, authoring a story seemed to have nothing to do with the actual author. If characters had personalities of their own, and it wasn't our own lack of creativity that prevented us from writing, what did we do?

Eventually, I asked, "So do you get taken here whenever an author has a mind block, or is it only when you get stuck here that we get blocked?"

"I'm sure you can have a complete loss of creativity that stops you from writing anything at all without us being in Writers' Block," Warren answered. "After all, everyone is stupid sometimes. But we're only sent here if we get caught making Lionel mad. It's kind of like _**Fiction-land's **_version of prison."

"Isn't this where you thought Tia Dalma was then?" I realized excitedly.

"I considered it," Warren replied.

Sora mentioned, "But you have to realize this is a thirteen story building…full of guards. We couldn't just randomly go searching for her."

"We can't even get out of our one little room," Warren added.

_Thirteen stories,_ I thought to myself, _I wonder if they did that on purpose to make people scared of the building, or maybe…that's why people back home think the thirteenth story is unlucky._ I tossed that thought to the side. No real people had ever been to _**Fiction-land**_ other than me. How would a building that no one had ever seen create a superstition?

"What's on each of the levels?" I wondered after a moment.

Sora and Warren looked at each other for a while before Warren answered, "Roxas used to know. He swears he can't remember, though. I know it has something to do with the length of the sentence. People can be sentenced for life. No one knows what's on level thirteen, though."

"Does that mean someone can be here for all eternity? 'Cuz if they stay here until they die, and their authors can't take them out to kill them, they never die do they?"

Sora mumbled tiredly, "We only live for seven years."

That surprised me very much, but Warren quickly corrected, "That's only half true. As long as you keep writing about us, we can live forever. But once we're no longer being edited, we are given seven years just to make sure no one wants to make a sequel. Then, we die."

"Oh," I stated, understanding now, "so since you can't be killed unless your author kills you or abandons you, CrawFish created a place where he could sentence people to death by forcing authors to get so frustrated with the story that they just stop trying to write it."

"Yeah, pretty much. And sometimes even if a person is only sentenced for two or three years, the author still ditches the story. Then, the character spends the rest of his life pointlessly waiting for his author to come back, and the author rarely does."

"Wow," I finished sadly.

We were silent for a while. Sora was asleep again, and I was thinking. I felt really corny for creating friendships with fictional characters, and for feeling sorry about them dying. The week before, I probably would have checked myself into a mad house for believing these things. Warren mindlessly started tossing fireballs into the air. It was pretty obvious that he was upset over losing the previous night.

Not _too_ long after that, Nori was tossed roughly through the door. He rolled over once and quickly sat up. He looked a little shook up, but not too bad. In fact, he cheerfully waved and said, "Helloo."

By that time, I was lying on the floor, and I looked at him upside down. "Good day, Me Love," I replied, feeling a little silly and pulling out my half-way decent British accent, "Where've ye been Mate?"

Nori had noticed that Sora was still asleep by then, and he walked over to Sora's side. "Someone wanted to tell me something."

"And that took all night and all morning?"

"Okay, CrawFish wanted to make sure I didn't go looking for Tia anymore. No problem. Is Sora okay?"

"He was awake for a little while," I answered.

Warren added, "He's got a headache and prolly some broken ribs, but that's it for injuries. I think he's mostly just tired. He's not used to providing weapons for two other people at the same time as he fights those guys."

"I'm sure he'd get better faster if we had some water to give him," I stated, mostly complaining that I was thirsty.

"Or if we could somehow get him to Aerith," Nori added softly.

"Who?"

"Aerith…some magical girl who puts him back together when he's like this…but, we couldn't get outta here."

"Well, maybe we could. Roxas said some people have before," Warren countered.

I randomly broke out laughing and then had to explain, "No, it's not you…well, it is you, but it's not what you said. I just realized you look like you have the largest sunburn in the world. That's what you get for playing with fire…I'm sorry, I can't help it…You look funny." That whole thing took me almost fifteen seconds to say because I was laughing so hard. Then, to prove I could still concentrate, I sighed, "If only Wesley were here."

"Wesley?" All three boys asked. Yes, poor Sora had woken up from my outburst.

"Yeah, Wesley. He's a character from one of my other stories. He'd be able to get us out of here."

"How can you be so sure about that?" Warren asked skeptically.

"He's got the key."

"Until two days ago, you didn't even know _**Fiction-land**_ existed, much less Writers' Block. How exactly did you give him the key to a place you didn't know about?" Nori asked, almost always confused by me.

"Well, not **the** key. He has a key to everything. Any door and any lock that has ever been invented could be unlocked by his key," I responded.

"That could definitely come in handy," Warren noted, "particularly right now."

Nori stood up for what seemed to be no reason. He began examining the back wall like he expected to find something. It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for. Squeezing his fingers into what appeared to be a normal crack in the wall, he ripped a section out, revealing a hole that led to outside.

"Dude, why didn't you tell us about that **before **we got all desperate and started contemplating impossibilities?" Warren demanded, seeming frustrated.

Nori looked at Warren with a very confused expression, and then out the hole in the wall, muttering to himself, "Yeah, I thought we were on level six." He turned back to Warren, "Don't stop contemplating yet. I think flying is an impossibility."

"How did you know that was there?" I wondered.

"I met this old man once who claimed to have been locked here for two years. Not knowing which level he was on, he spent the entire time carving a hole in the wall just to find out he was too high up to jump." He paused for a second, quickly adding, "But it'll serve our needs just fine." Leaning back through the hole, he made a very strange bird call ranging from, "Ca-CA!" to balking like a chicken, to sweetly whistling, and ending with something that sounded a little like a hawk.

Warren and I exchanged a weird look, which made Sora break out laughing because he knew what Nori was trying to accomplish with the noises. The laughing made Sora's ribs hurt, so he stopped short, moaning a little more. Nori rushed back to Sora's side.

"Are you okay Sora?" Nori questioned.

"I'm…fine," Sora replied unsurely.

"I'm sorry…that we ever put you in that situation to begin with."

Sora tried to brush that aside. "No Takeshi, what kind of friend would I be if I hadn't come to help you? That's what friends are for. If I didn't love you enough to die for you, I wouldn't let you sleep in my room."

That was funny because it sounded a little wrong, but nothing more was said. It seemed to happen a lot that our lives were interrupted by the next adventure. This one was Iago from the movie Aladdin flying noisily through the window.

With a squawk, the crazy bird greeted, "You called, Your Majesty, Nori the Grand?" He was obviously joking with that part. Iago wouldn't honestly call anyone that. "Iago here, at your service," he finished, taking a little bow.

"Iago, my feathered friend," Nori returned, happy to see the bizarre bird. "You ready to go fairy picking?"

It then dawned on Warren what Nori was trying to do, but I still didn't get it. "Fairy picking?" I whispered to Warren.

Nori turned to me and asked, "What's Wesley's last name?"

"Swann," I replied, still not understanding.

"I need a fairy," Nori told Iago, "a messenger fairy who knows of a certain Wesley Swann. Would you get one for me? And have them send a message with it, that we need him here pronto…Signed Sincerely, Nori Kyoko."

Iago left compliantly and Nori joined us back on the floor with a shrug. "It's as easy as that."


	9. Chapter 8 Bloody instant transport

Yay! Today I get to thank myself for inventing Wesley Swann...but he's fanfiction too. I didn't invent the Swann part, so he's only half mine. Bartholomew Schmitty on the other hand is completely mine. Enjoy.

* * *

From another's point of view

_Life is good,_ I thought. What could possibly be better than spending a few hours on a rowboat singing pirate songs and drinking with your best mate? Of course, Schmitty didn't drink any rum because we found out once that alcohol and he didn't go well together. From where I was laying, I rose my bottle in th air to get his attention and to help myself sit up.

Drunkenly I stumbled out, "Remembeh tha' night with dem Aztecs?"

"Aye Suh, Misteh Aztec Suh," Schmitty agreed, pretending to be drunk with me. "I's certain Wesley 'ere peed in **your** soup."

I laughed for a while which was interrupted by a small hick-up. Then, both of us started laughing, and we couldn't stop. After about a minute, we were beginning to calm down when a little person with wings landed on my shoulder. I jumped, because it surprised me, almost falling out of the boat. Schmitty's laughter started all over.

When I could manage to get words out—as best as anyone drunk could—I turned to the fairy on my shoulder and said, "'ello li'l person. How'r ye?"

"I'm not a little person," came the small voice. The fairy was kind of cute, with an all-around tint of green and big innocent eyes. "I'm a fairy."

"Sorry li'l pe—fairy. Li'l fairy."

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes. "I've got a message for you from one Nori Kyoko. He says he urgently needs your presence on the sixth floor of Writers' Block. Signed Sincerely, himself."

I thought for a moment, as things are harder to process when you're drunk. "I don't think I know that person."

"Well, does it look like it's my fault that you've been contacted by someone you've never met. Besides, it's not like you have to go save his life," the fairy finished, with a major attitude problem, as she flew off.

I looked at Schmitty with a questioning face for a while, but because he wasn't answering me, I had to make the decision myself. "It seems a enough nice day fer savin' people, don'chya say?...Ain't got notin' better t' do." I wobbly stood up and stepped out of the boat.

A second later, Schmitty was pulling me out of the water, commenting, "It would probably be better if we rowed ashore."

"Good idea," I agreed.

Schmitty did just that, simply dropping me off at the dock and continuing on his way. I don't know if he was to shy to fight or to meet new people, or if he believed since they only asked for me, he would only be in the way. Whatever he thought, for some reason he thought drunk guy could handle it. Of course, I didn't blame him for that. I thought I could handle it too.

The first thing I realized I didn't have under control was finding a way to get to Writers' Block. From where I was, at the sea port, it would take days to get there. Then, I began to wonder how people who were arrested got there quickly. After a moment of my slow thinking, a realization came to me that Lionel's helpers who arrested people for him had some sort of instant transporter, space warper thing. I quickly changed my methods to wandering—or staggering—aimlessly around the city to find one of Lionel's people.

"Dumb lobster-spies," I mumbled under my breath, twenty minutes later. I still hadn't found any. Why was it that they were around whenever you didn't want them there, but as soon as you were looking for them, they were nowhere to be found? Frustrated, I was about to give up, when I saw a family touring the city for vacation. The man was taking a picture of his wife and son. That gave me an idea!

"I am gonna kill that Lionel!" I shouted into the air, knowing the security cameras would catch that. Then, I sat in the middle of the street, with everyone staring at me for my comment, and waited two minutes for the guard to watch the surveillance footage.

I was strangely happy to see the annoyed redhead walking toward me. I stood up, acting like I hadn't noticed him, though. Walking in a way I thought was casually, I brushed by his shoulder, pretending it was an accident. He angrily grabbed my wrist. Quickly I remembered his hands were hot as they began to burn me.

"What do you think you're doing?" He demanded.

"Walkin'," I replied. "Is der sumtin wrong wit' dat?"

"Yeah."

"What?" I questioned, trying to get up in his face.

"You're under arrest."

"Fo' what?"

He looked to the palm of his right hand and read, "For treason, threatening to kill the king of _**Fiction-land**_, disturbing the peace, and 17 accounts of piracy…Got it memorized?"

"Hey! I already served time for six of those!" I protested.

"Six? There's only four."

"No, six of the seventeen."

The redhead looked from his hand to me and back to his hand again. "Oh well, that's not what we're arresting you for. You said you were going to kill the king. Come with me."

I threw his hand from my wrist and shoved him. "You're not taking me to that pathetic prison again are ye?" I really emphasized the word pathetic, somewhat spitting it at him.

"That would be the under arrest part," he said somehow keeping his voice calm even though his green eyes were full of annoyance and a circular weapon had suddenly appeared in his hand.

"That's boring," I complained. "I've escaped from that—what—like…six times. Challenge me."

"You want to fight me then?" The redhead asked eagerly as he spun the weapon around in circles on his hand.

"On second thought," I decided gesturing largely, "I think I'll just take my leave now." I turned to run away, but the redhead grabbed my wrist again.

"Not so fast. We'll compromise."

"No prison?" I asked excitedly.

"You're still going to Writers' Block," he contradicted, "but you get to choose the challenge."

"Something better than level one." That time I spit the word better. "Like three, or five, or four! Maybe seven, or ten, or thirteen even…or six, I think I skipped six."

"Oh." He looked at me funny for a second before continuing, "Is that how they teach you to count in England?"

I muttered to myself about that comment but didn't say anything because he created his instant transport circle and shoved me through it. Instead of landing in the room like we normally did, we appeared in the hallway of the prison. I looked around for a moment before the redhead sighed.

"I don't know why you chose level six in particular, but if you can get to it before I can get to you, then you can stay there."

Wondering how he had known for sure I had chosen level six, I glanced into his eyes. I had tried to hint at it, but not to make it obvious. I hardly looked at him for more than a second before I took off running up the stairs, however. He was instantly after me, throwing balls of fire that would magically appear in his hands at my feet. Feeling like I was starting to gain on him by level three, I looked behind me just to check. Surprisingly, he wasn't there at all. I kept running anyway.

At the entrance to level four he suddenly appeared in front of me. I skid to a stop thinking, _Bloody instant transport machine!_ He took a step towards me. I took one step back down the stairs in return. Those people creeped me out, with their gravity defying hair and magical weapons. With a smug laugh, the redhead got a tiny, crooked smirk on his face.

I drew my sword and, pointing it at him, shouted, "That's not fair! I can't do that."

He just laughed again. "Do you really think you can fight me with a sword? And like that?"

"I swear to drunk I'm not God!" I insisted. Then, I covered my mouth realizing what I'd actually said. "That came out backwards, didn't it?"

"Yeah…and the smell gives you away."

I was absolutely silent for a while, and then I randomly exclaimed, "Hey, do you think if I burp you could catch my breath on fire?"

The redhead just raised his eyebrows at me. It was clear that he thought I was distracted. I took advantage of that short moment by charging him and slashing at him once. He pulled back to reality quickly enough to deflect it, but I still caught him off guard enough to slip around him, continuing up the stairs. I sheathed my sword and ran as fast as I could. The redhead started to make another instant transport machine, but he decided against it. Curiosity got the better of him. Wanting to know what I wanted to do with level six, he just chased me up the stairs.

I got there and waited exhaustedly by the entrance. Why was I offering to save these people again? The redhead arrived not too long after me. He simply opened the door, shoved me in, locked the door again, and waited outside to see what would happen. I fell over, did a backwards somersault to keep from hurting myself, and rolled to my knees. Instantly, a girl threw her arms around my neck.

"Wesley!" She shouted excitedly. Then, she pulled away from the hug and seemed to be examining me. Running her tongue over her teeth, she stated mysteriously, "You smell like rum…but you're better than I imagined you."

I was really confused, and her hair looked funny. "Are you Nori?" I asked curiously, trying not to get distracted by the fact that her clothes were hardly covering anything in comparison to the full length dresses I was used to.

"No, silly. I'm Tiara," she corrected, turning me around to face the rest of the people in the room. "That's Nori," she said, pointing to another person with obviously unnatural hair. In fact, there was only one other person in the room with natural looking hair, and he had a major sunburn. The girl called Tiara had a small British accent, but it wasn't as strong as mine.

I nodded in greeting to him, quickly changing to shaking my head back and forth. "What am I here for?"

"Your key," Nori replied.

"What key?" I asked, pretending I didn't know what he was talking about.

"This key," Tiara explained, pulling it off from around my neck.

I defensively grabbed it back from her. "How did you know I have that?"

She laughed, "I gave it to you Wesley." Then, distracted by the two rings on the necklace with the key, she changed the subject. "You actually keep the rings there? Do you love Kemina?"

"What?" I demanded, very confused. "No, William Turner gave me that key. I've never met you before. And what do you care about Kemina?"

"No Wesley," the girl countered, "I'm your author. I gave you the key."

Was that even possible? Were they just trying to trick me into giving them my key? How did they even know about my key if she wasn't really my author? I decided to test her.

"Tell me something about me that only my author would know," I ordered.

The girl responded, "You're self conscious about how short you are. You are an amazing actor, to the point that when you spent four weeks dressed as a girl, you scared yourself because half the time you forgot you were really a boy…You have nightmares about a hat trying to kill you, and you have a secret friendship with a boy named Jeremiah that no one knows about but you." She paused to take a breath. "Need I go on, or have I embarrassed you enough?"

I hadn't realized it, but my face had flushed to the point that the color could compete with the sunburn on the other guy's face. She was right about all those things, and they were really things that only my author could possibly know. I was suddenly so confused—partly because I didn't know whether to be angry with her for saying that or to hug her for being my author. Everything was quiet for a while because I was thinking, and the people were letting me think. Then, a boy who was lying on the floor in the back of the room just burst out laughing. He had obviously been holding it in since the things Tiara had said and just couldn't hold it in anymore. He laughed for a few seconds. Then something came over him. He grabbed his sides in pain and groaned miserably.

I smiled, thinking back on a memory when I felt the exact same way. Poor kid. Suddenly, it didn't matter that my author had just embarrassed me in front of a bunch of weird looking people. I felt for whoever the boy was.

"How'd he break his ribs?" I asked curiously.

"Trying to save my life," Nori answered after a second.

"All of our lives actually," Tiara added.

"And you want out to get him help?" I questioned.

They all agreed in their different ways, with Tiara once again adding, "And we should really look for Tia Dalma since we're in here anyway."

"What? Why do you think Tia Dalma's in here?"

"Well, we don't know she's in here. We just know she's locked up somewhere. It wouldn't be wise to miss the opportunity to look here."

I glanced out the window in the wall—which I was pretty sure wasn't supposed to be there—at how bright and sunny of a day it was. "If she was locked up at one point," I noted, "I don't think she is any longer."

"No, trust me, she is," Tiara countered, "and she has been for…almost three days now. That's the only reason I'm here."

I put two and two together and was slightly upset. "You've been here for three days and you didn't come find me until you needed let out of jail! God Tiara, I thought I was important to you!"

"Wesley," the girl began, but she seemed to not know what to say. "I'm not here for pleasure, like on vacation or something. I didn't exactly have time to look you up."

"Oh, it takes what? Two minutes to send a fairy to come find me. You had no problem doing that just now. And who are these people? Are they all your characters too? How long did it take you to look them up?"

"Chill Wesley," Tiara replied with a frown on her face. "I didn't know what a fairy message was until they used it to find you. Nori is the **only** one who is also my character, and **he** showed up on **my** doorstep to tell me Tia Dalma needed our help! It's not my fault she didn't choose you to save her!" She took a deep breath and then finished calmly, "Believe me Wesley. If it would have been you begging me to come to _**Fiction-land**_ with you, I would have spent all three days with you and your friends."

I didn't say anything. Even if I had wanted to, I wouldn't have known what to say. There was one thing I did know: whether I would believe Tiara or not, the kid with the broken ribs needed my help. After a moment, I climbed to my feet and walked back to the door. I unlocked the door and took my key with me, but I left the door open. I had expected to see the crazy redhead standing outside the door, but I don't think he expected me to walk back out it. My first punch landed on his face before he even knew I was there.

Instantly, he grabbed my wrists—which made me drop my key—and muttered, "You little…"

Somehow, I managed to throw him off balance, rolling the two of us onto the floor inside the room. After making sure I would end up on top, I ordered the four people, "Get outta here now!"

The redhead looked to the four people he had worked so hard to catch the night before as the sun burnt one scooped up broken-ribs kid in his arms. "What the—? No!" He tried to throw me off of him, but when he stood up, he quickly realized he had forgotten to let go of my wrists. I smiled at him and then tripped him, running towards the door just as the four people made it out. I shut the door behind them, hardly giving Tiara the chance to say, "Thanks," which she tried to do.

No longer having any doubt about what I wanted to do on level six, the redhead was angry. He wanted to fight me for real now, and it was obvious from the way he looked—not to mention his magical fire hands had returned. I really didn't want to fight him. _Why did I always do this to myself?_ I asked, remembering just how often I got myself in trouble.

From my point of view

After seeing what happened to Warren the night before, I did not want to leave Wesley in there with Axel, but he was doing it on purpose…I think. I bent down, noticing something on the ground. Wesley had left his key in the hallway! I don't think he'd meant to do that. Knowing I'd probably never see him again, I didn't want to take it, yet at the same time, I knew I shouldn't leave it there.

My thoughts were interrupted by Warren stating aggravatedly, "We don't have time to argue about this Nori! I'll get Sora to Aerith, don't worry about it. We'll be fine. You and Tiara, go look for Tia. It'll be better this way, I promise."

Nori didn't argue—though he must have been before. He just grabbed my arm and started running up the stairs, making me drop the key to the floor. Warren took Sora the other way. I couldn't stop thinking about Wesley, praying that he would be okay. I swore to myself there that as soon as I got home, I would write something else about him to make sure he got out of Writers' Block safely…and if he hadn't gotten out yet, I would **never** give up on writing him.

"Duck!" Nori screamed, pushing me to the floor. We dodged a punch from a guard, and then Nori punched him back. He was easy to knock out, I noticed, as he fell unconsciously to the floor. Nori bent down to grab the keys from the guard's belt, and I realized I should have brought Wesley's key because all the doors were going to be locked. Now we had the guard's keys, though, so it didn't matter.

We kept running up. We only stopped for a second when Nori saw a bunch of heartless on the tenth floor, but after figuring out a plan in his head, he charged through them, dragging me along with him. He must have figured we could run faster than they could. We could, but I was getting tired from running up the stairs. Down—or flat—would be so much easier. They were starting to catch up with us again when we reached level thirteen. Nori pulled out the keys to unlock the door, and we ran in, closing the door behind us.

Finally able to take a breath, it was a while before Nori said, "We'll start here…and work our way down…If someone…like her were here…she'd be more likely to be…near the top."

I nodded my head in agreement, but didn't get a chance to say anything. Instantly, the whole room was pitch black, and we were falling.

Axel had beaten Wesley pretty bad…and he hadn't even used any fire this time. Proud of himself, and sure the battle was over, Axel finished, "Congratulations kid, you just earned yourself two free years in Writers' Block." He drew a circle in the air with his hand, opening up another portal and walking through it.

Wesley smirked, reaching for the key around his neck. When he realized it wasn't there, he jumped to his feet in shock. He didn't like the idea but had no other option other than to follow Axel through the portal. Climbing to his feet on the other side, Wesley looked around him in awe.

"What is this place?" He asked himself out loud.

"Axel, who's that?" Came the response from a different voice. Wesley turned to face it and saw a blonde boy with hair just as crazy as all the other people's.

"Don't tease me Demyx," Axel replied, "There's no one—whoa! What the—?" Axel jumped a little to the side, surprised to see Wesley. "How did you get here?"

Wesley looked around for a while longer before saying, "I like your magic instant transport machine."

"Yeah, it's somethin', isn't it?" Demyx asked, rubbing his fingertips on his chest in a bragging way, as if he had invented it.

Axel didn't take it quite as well. He was so angry that steam was pouring out his ears—literally. "You are supposed to be in Writers' Block," he growled. "Maybe next time I won't let you choose your own level."

Feeling a little cocky, Wesley noted, 'Come on, I escaped twice from level six. Do you really think I wouldn't have escaped from any other level?"

Axel was through with Wesley. Raising his arm with a ball of fire to throw at Wesley, he shouted, "How 'bout I tie you to a rock and throw you in a lava pit?"

Wesley ducked nervously, but instead of feeling a burning sensation, a few drops of water landed on his face. They had come from Demyx and were directed specifically to Axel, who stood there, completely soaked. He wasn't any less angry, though.

"Chill Axel," Demyx ordered. "It's not like he's Sora or anything."

Axel grumbled, "He let Sora out."

"He what? Oh, you're gonna be in big trouble."

We only fell for a few seconds before hitting the floor…or at least we thought it was a floor. After a second, Nori asked quietly, "Are you there Tiara?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"Do you here something?"

I listened for a second and didn't hear anything. Deciding to lighten things up a bit, I answered, "Mune no DOKI DOKI dake."

"What?" He laughed. "You can't even say Japanese names, don't try to speak the language. Where'd you learn that anyway?"

"From watching anime on the internet. I like to watch Detective Conan, and he says that at the beginning. It does mean 'just my heart beating,' doesn't it?"

"Yeah…so you don't hear anything, then?"

"No."

At that moment, what I thought was a solid floor started rising at high speeds. Apparently we were on a moving platform, and Nori had heard the mechanics warming up. There had to be a reason that they dropped us and were putting us back up where we came from. Nori seemed to think he knew what the point was because a couple seconds later he grabbed me and rolled off the platform. That time, we only fell three or four feet before hitting the floor. A second later, we heard a crash and the sound of breaking glass.

"That would have killed us," Nori said, helping me to my feet.

Realizing that level thirteen would probably be like that the whole time we were here, I reached down my shirt where the kimono was and grabbed my cell phone. It hadn't had service the entire time we were in _**Fiction-land**_, but it did have a little flashlight in the bottom of it. We would need to see. I turned the light on and shined it at Nori for a second and then around the room.

"Awesome," Nori exclaimed, "that'll be helpful."

I was shining the light behind him when a metal wall sliced down with a thump. Another one came down behind me, forming a narrow hallway that we were stuck in. Coming from the right were smaller ones that created an end to the hallway and were getting closer and closer to us. If one of them dropped on us, we would be dead. Both getting the same idea at the same time, Nori and I ran in the only direction we could…right to where Lionel was leading us.

The falling walls were catching up with Nori and I when the floor once again dropped out from underneath us. We were surprised when we didn't fall, however. Instead, something was making us float upward and into this room in the shape of an octagon. It looked like a giant kaleidoscope, with strange, shifting, purple blobs floating around on the walls. It also was some sort of mirror labyrinth because none of the walls were where they appeared to be. Nori and I tried to reach every wall to see if it was possibly a door as well, and sometimes we would run into the wall before we ever though we had reached it, whereas other times we wouldn't reach the wall until after we had passed the floating colors.

None of the walls, though, had any evidence pointing to their being doors, so we returned to the center of the room to sit. There were dull orange lines running from each corner to the center, forming another small octagon in the center of the room. That was where we sat, entirely lost, just staring at the cloud of green gas that periodically appeared inside the small octagon. We hardly even noticed that the walls had changed from purple to red until the green cloud came up blue. A second later, we woke up on level twelve.

Lionel was standing in front of us in another room that looked similar to level six—only with a hallway at the back of it. Braggingly, he stated, "I thought I warned you Nori."

Nori sat up instantly, defending, "No, we weren't looking for Queen Dalma!"

Lionel laughed. "And what am I to suppose you were doing on level thirteen?"

Nori didn't have any ideas, so, still thinking of my thirst, I blurted out, "We were looking for a drinking fountain. It'd be nice if your guards actually fed people here."

"Ha! What gave you the idea that I would do anything _nice_ Young Lady?...and Nori's eyes look guilty."

_Crap,_ I thought, _stupid anime emotions._

Lionel brought a small rectangular object out from behind his back, asking, "Do you know what this is Nori?"

Was that a memory stick? I looked closer and was sure I was right when Lionel also pulled out a laptop to go with it. Dropping it to the floor in front of Nori, he answered his own question.

"It's your life."

That time, Nori laughed. "You created this place; you should know stories don't work here."

Kneeling down to the floor, to be closer to Nori's level, Lionel whispered, "Stories can't get through these walls, but there's not a wall between you and me, is there? And I don't need to send you to your story to kill you with it."

"How did you get that?" I demanded.

He didn't answer me, though. He just put up a wall between Nori and I. It was the same pink wall that had separated Obi-Wan Kenobi from Qui-Gon Jinn in Episode I of Star Wars just before Qui-Gon died. I couldn't get through the wall; I couldn't even hear a word Lionel was saying. All I could do was watch helplessly from the sidelines. Plugging in the memory stick, he opened Microsoft Word and went to the end of the story.

"And then Nori died, a slow…and painful…death," Lionel stated as he typed. Nori keeled over, grabbing his stomach. Satisfied that it was working, he pushed the save button and closed the computer. He finished, "Seeing as last time, being creative didn't work."

Nori rolled onto his stomach somewhat flailingly and desperately reached to the computer begging, "No…please." He was beginning to have difficulties breathing. Lionel stood up, taking the computer out of Nori's reach and throwing a watch to the floor.

"You've got ten minutes Kid. Have fun counting down." He turned to leave, but for some reason, he turned back to Nori. Tossing Wesley's key on the floor as well, he concluded, "Oh yeah, I think that's yours."

The pink wall fell down, and I rushed toward Nori. By then it was too late because Lionel was done with him. Lionel wanted me now. Grabbing my wrist, he started leading me down the hallway. I struggled and resisted, but I couldn't overcome the seven foot lobster. Eventually, I just conceded myself to crying out Nori's name with tears welling up in my eyes as Lionel dragged me away.


	10. Chapter 9 CrawFish got Tiara

This time I would like to thank whatever random person created the Mexican man, and also my parents for creating my sister. Don't ask why, just read it and you'll understand.

* * *

"You're gonna be in big trouble," Demyx said to Axel when he found out why Axel was mad at Wesley.

"You think?" Axel responded sarcastically.

"Well, what are we gonna do with him? Cuz obviously we can't just leave him here."

"Why don't we just pretend like this day never happened?" Wesley suggested.

"Let me kill him," Axel recommended, "just let me kill him."

"Why don't you just torture him into telling you where Sora is," another person said slowly to make sure the somewhat immature villains could understand. He had just walked by and happened to hear the conversation. After that he changed to a more angry tone, "So you can go get him and bring him back here before Xemnas kills us all."

Wesley's eyes grew big. "No way guys…I'll tell you. Sora went to see this crazy chick named Aerith or something…at least I think that's Sora, 'cuz Tiara and Nori were the only ones who stayed at the prison, and I could only assume Sora isn't Tiara or Nori."

Axel and Demyx looked to each other and then back to Xaldin, surprised that Wesley had told them already. "Well that was easy," Axel stated.

Just out of curiosity, Demyx asked, "What'd you do that for?"

Wesley answered honestly, "'Cuz redhead there's got magical fire-hands, and you can make buckets of water appear out of nowhere. I can't even begin to imagine what he can do," Wesley pointed to Xaldin. "And believe me, I've been through enough torture to last a bloody long time, but you guys scare me to death."

Xaldin thought for quite a while before stating, "We could probably get you to do some other stuff for us then…What were you in Writers' Block for in the first place?"

Wesley just smiled embarrassedly.

Axel looked to his hand where he'd written the charges. The words were a little smeared now from wrestling and the water still dripping down his back, so it sounded a little strange as he read, "For trea…treason, threat-ening to k-kill the king of _**Fiction-land**_, disturbing the peas, peace, and 17, no 11 accounts of piracy."

"Seventeen," Wesley corrected. "I didn't really serve time for six of them already."

"I see," Xaldin noted, tapping his fingers together in thought. "What would you say if I told you we could make those go away?"

Wesley had to think for a very long time before asking, "Do you promise you'll let me go free?"

"Absolutely free…after you've done a few things for us, that is."

"What things?" He remembered how Schmitty had gotten suckered into something like this once…it was piracy.

"Or we could use force…"

"Fine," Wesley agreed reluctantly. "What do I have to do?"

"First, sign this contract, so everyone knows you've given us your word of approval." Xaldin explained, pulling a random piece of paper and a pen from his black cloak. Wesley complied. "Then, you step back through the portal and wait for further instruction." Another black circle appeared to the side of Xaldin and Wesley slowly walked through.

After the portal and Wesley had disappeared, Demyx asked curiously, "Where'd you send him to?"

"Wherever he just came from," Xaldin replied. Upon seeing the shocked looks from Axel and Demyx, he continued, "We should have no problem finding him again when we actually need him."

"Yeah, but he's back on level six of Writers' Block."

Xaldin looked surprised for a second, but then he chuckled slightly. "Well, I guess we get the better end of that deal," he commented, ripping the blank piece of paper with Wesley's name on it in two.

When Wesley realized where he was, he once again exclaimed, "Dumb lobster-spies!" He kicked at a loose rock on the floor, but because he was frustrated, he missed it and fell on his butt. "Oh yes, I am so Absolutely Free!" Then, he started muttering to himself, "What kind of pirate are you anyways Wesley? Scared of giant hats and magical buckets of water. Pathetic. And everyone is like: 'Ooh, he can get out.' Well, he bloody can't get out now! His magical key is gone."

After a moment of ranting, he turned to the hole in the wall. Slowly, he got up and walked over to explore it. He was desperate, and daft, enough to try it. Looking down, then up, he realized it would definitely be easier to climb to the roof than to the ground, and he climbed out towards the roof.

It wasn't too hard to get to the roof—for Wesley at least. From there, he looked around for a way to get back to that hallway he had been in before with Axel. He eventually found a square panel—kind of like a hatch on a ship's deck—and jumped through it. Drawing his sword the second his feet touched the ground, Wesley looked around to see if anyone would attack him. All he found was Nori lying there, shivering. Immediately, he sheathed his sword and ran to Nori's side.

Rolling Nori onto his back, Wesley asked, "Are you okay?" Nori half-mindedly handed Wesley the watch which had a countdown timer at the bottom reading: 8:30. It ticked down to 8:28 before Wesley inquired, "Are you dying?"

"Save me," Nori whispered, also handing Wesley the memory stick that he had somehow grabbed from the laptop before Lionel took it away.

Wesley looked at the memory stick for a moment before lifting Nori to his feet and questioning, "How do we get outta here?" Nori just shrugged, so Wesley headed down the hallway. A second later, he wondered, "Where's Tiara?"

Nori nodded his head in the direction they were walking—actually Wesley was walking, Nori was just barely moving his feet as he was dragged along. "CrawFish got her," Nori stumbled out.

"Who?" Wesley asked, apparently not familiar with the nickname.

Nori tried to answer, but all that came out was some jumbled mumbles. Wesley shrugged and kept walking. They quickly came to a dead end, however, with three doors labeled 12.1, 12.2, and 12.3.

With a confused look on his face, Wesley said, "Twelve? I thought we were on thirteen."

With a little cough, Nori shook his head no.

"So, I guess we just pick a door now." Nori nodded and handed Wesley his key back. Wesley gave him a look that asked, "How'd you get that?" but didn't say anything.

They went to door 12.1 first, logically, and found nothing. It was just an empty room that looked exactly like the room on level six. Hurriedly, they moved on to the next one, 12.2. Wesley set Nori on his knees on the floor, leaning against Wesley's leg so he could unlock the door. That door revealed the same type of room, this time with a young girl doing yoga in the middle of it.

Nori forgot to breathe for a second. He wasn't sure if he was delusional because of dying or if this was real, so he asked anyway, "Chiyo?"

The girl opened her eyes, revealing their large size and hazel color. Excitedly, she exclaimed, "Nori!" and ran towards him.

"Chiyo!" Nori repeated, trying to crawl to her. They met in the middle, though it was slightly closer to Wesley, and embraced, both of them on their knees.

Tears immediately came to Chiyo's eyes as she cried, "I didn't think you'd ever find me."

Nori whispered in reply, "I didn't think you were alive."

Wesley let them hug for a second longer before interrupting, "Sorry to ruin the moment, but Nori's dying. Do you know how to get out of here?"

Covering his mouth when he coughed a few more times, Nori realized he was now coughing up blood. When Chiyo put the coughing and the dying together, she rushed to her feet, lifting Nori up with her. She looked at him for a second, noticing immediately how weak he really was as he fell helplessly into her arms. Still crying, she helped Nori get over to Wesley and then helped Wesley to carry him over to halfway between door 12.2 and 12.3.

After feeling around on the rocks for a second, she muttered, "God, I know it's here somewhere." She felt around for a moment longer before finding the right spot which opened a panel on the wall. "Where do we want to go?" She asked.

"Uh…" Wesley tried to come up with a response quickly. "His house, or Aerith's maybe."

"Do you know where this Aerith lives?"

"Uh, no."

"Nori's house then, you still live in the same place, don't you?"

"Uh-uh," Nori countered miserably. "Six-three-two-one…South Riverside Drive," he explained one word at a time. "_**Fantasy-land**_."

"You don't even live in Japan any more?" Chiyo asked, surprised, as she typed in the address Nori gave her. She pushed enter and prayed it would take them to the right place.

A moment later, all three appeared in Sora's living room. Nehemiah looked up from the couch to see what the noise was, and jumped up when he saw Chiyo.

Hugging her, but not as lovingly as Nori had, he exclaimed, "Chiyo, it's great to see you. What happened to Nori?"

Wesley looked to the stopwatch. "He's dying…has exactly three minutes and forty-seven seconds to live…We gotta get to a computer."

"How is that going to help?" Nehemiah questioned.

"Don't got time to explain, just watch over him. Chiyo and I are going to find a computer."

Wesley and Chiyo ran out the front door and into the street. There were quite a few people hanging around, so they started asking everyone if they had a computer. A minute passed and the two still hadn't found a computer. Wesley kicked at a rock on the ground after talking to another person who had no idea what a computer was.

He mumbled under his breath, "We should have gone to my house. My next door neighbor has a computer."

Chiyo was just as frustrated as Wesley was, so she walked over to where he was. "Well this isn't working."

"We can't give up just yet," Wesley stated, having rested long enough to try again.

"But there's no one new here…" Chiyo called, chasing after him, "We've talked to all these people already." Then, she stepped into a shadow and looked to see what had caused it. It was the public address tower, which gave her an idea. She caught up with Wesley and exclaimed, "Follow me, I've got an idea!"

She grabbed his hand and led him up several flights of stairs to the top of the public address tower. Halfway up darkness returned, and the pair stopped for a second, shocked as the entire neighborhood turned to chaos. After a second, they began running again. It didn't matter why darkness had returned; they had someone to save. When they finally reached the top she picked up the microphone and announced so people could hear for a mile around, "Calm down…"

No one reacted to her order, so she continued, "We need your help…Can anyone help us?" That didn't work, so she just shouted, "Would you all just SHUT UP!"

Suddenly, silence filled the air, and Chiyo explained, "If there is anyone who hears this that has a computer, WE NEED IT!" Suddenly, tears came back to Chiyo's eyes as she continued, "My best friend is going to die, if you can't help me. You need to save Nori."

No one responded, at least not the way they had hoped. One person looked up and shouted that they were very sorry they couldn't help. Feeling like there were no other options, Chiyo desperately repeated the message in Japanese. After she had finished, Wesley followed suit, taking the microphone and translating the message to Spanish. Wesley also added to the Spanish one that Nori was trying to save the world from darkness—which he obviously took too far, but Nori was trying to rescue Tia, the source of light.

He had almost started on French, getting out, "Et Français," when a young Hispanic man called up from behind them.

"Hola!" He replied, adding in Spanish, "I can help."

Chiyo and Wesley ran back down the stairs as fast as they could and straight to the man. "Where is your house?" Wesley demanded urgently.

"Follow me," was all the man said.

"Run," Wesley ordered, "we only have two minutes." They ran as fast as they could to the man's house. When they got there, Wesley took the watch and handed it to Chiyo saying, "One minute, let me know if we run out of time."

The man showed the two of them the computer and kicked his wife off of it for Wesley. Wesley looked for the USB port to plug in the memory stick, but there wasn't one on the front. Looking on the back of the computer, he finally found it and plugged the memory stick in. A moment later a small window appeared on the screen with one file in it: "Nori's Story."

"Well, that's easy enough," Wesley muttered, double clicking on the file to open it.

While they were waiting for it to open, Chiyo announced, "Thirty seconds."

"Come on," Wesley begged the computer to move faster. Finally Microsoft Word appeared and the story showed up too. Wesley skimmed through the first paragraph to make sure Lionel hadn't hid anything there. When Chiyo said there was only fifteen seconds left, however, he skipped all the way to the end and sighed with relief to see the line, "And then Nori died, a slow and painful death."

Wesley quickly deleted that section and pushed save. Chiyo read the time as ten seconds when the computer had finished saving the changes. Wesley just exited out of the window, and Chiyo looked at him, realizing it was done. She jumped in his arms, hugging him.

"Oh it worked!" She exclaimed, "You saved Nori!"

Wesley grabbed the memory stick out of the back of the computer and tried to get Chiyo off of him by suggesting, "We should go back and make sure he's okay now."

"Yes," Chiyo agreed excitedly, running back out of the house.

They weren't in quite as much of a hurry to get back to Sora's house, but they were still speedy about it. When they returned, Wesley made Chiyo knock on the door and wait for Nehemiah to answer it. After all, Nehemiah didn't know anything about what was going on.

When Nehemiah opened the door, he exclaimed, "You're back! Did it work?"

Chiyo had an excited look on her face—mostly in her eyes. "Can I see Nori? Where is he?"

Nehemiah let her in. "Down that hallway, the second door on the left," he explained. Chiyo rushed toward the room, and Wesley went to follow. Nehemiah stopped Wesley from entering.

"Who are you?" He asked suspiciously. "There've been a lot of people coming to see Nori lately that I don't know. Should I trust you, seeing as you've been hanging out with someone who Nori has been looking for forever? How should I know you didn't kidnap her? And why, when you came in last time, was Nori almost dead?"

Wesley crossed his arms in offense. "I honestly haven't met either of them before today. Some fairy came and told me to save him. Don't accuse me of trying to hurt him when I spent all bloody day risking my life for his." Frustrated, Wesley just pushed past Nehemiah and started toward Nori's room. Nehemiah was starting to get tired of people doing that, but he just followed Wesley to Nori's room.

When they got there, Chiyo was already on the bed straddling Nori. He was still unconscious, yet Chiyo leaned down to kiss his forehead. Then, she grabbed his cheeks and promised, "I am never letting go of you again, you know that. You'll never get away from me."

Nehemiah and Wesley just smiled at her from the doorway. What more could they do?

A second later they heard the front door open and another person shouted through the house, "I've got donuts!" When he heard no response, he started searching the house. Eventually he made it to Nori's room. He began to ask, "What are you doing in here?" when he saw Chiyo on the bed and instead shouted, "Chiyo! We all thought you were dead!"

Chiyo looked up to see Nori's old friend Vash, and jumped off the bed to hug him too. Vash dropped the box of donuts on the floor to catch her. Wesley was more interested by the donuts than the reunion of two friends, so he knelt down, opening the box.

After giving the two a while to calm down from the original excitement of seeing each other, Wesley mentioned, "Three are missing."

Vash looked down, slightly confused, but when he realized what Wesley was talking about, he replied, "Yeah, I ate a couple on the way back. I couldn't help it."

Nori woke up for a second to mumble, "You let go."

No one understood what he'd said except for Chiyo who realized that she had already broken her promise. She rushed back to Nori and hopped on the bed again, grabbing his hand and whispering, "I'm here now. I'm yours forever." By then, Nori was asleep again, but Chiyo didn't move from his side.

At that, Nehemiah turned to Wesley and questioned, "So you got him back, but where are the other three?"

Wesley looked up from the donuts on the floor to respond, "Um…I don't even know who they are. CrawFish got Tiara—whatever that means—and the other two went to see Aerith…course, I don't know who she is or if they got to her okay, but the short one with the whacko hair was really not feeling good and the tall one had a major sunburn. And which ever one is Sora, he's gonna be in big trouble for getting out."

Vash and Nehemiah exchanged a sad look, and Nehemiah slid down the wall to the floor.

"So I suppose that isn't good news then?"

"You don't know who CrawFish is, do you?" Vash asked. He didn't wait for Wesley to confirm before he explained, "It's how we don't get in trouble for dis-ing the lobster."

"Oh," Wesley agreed, "no that isn't good."

Nehemiah continued, "And if Sora needs Aerith's help, he's hurt pretty bad…he should make it back fine, though."

As if Sora could hear him say that, the door opened again, and Nehemiah, Vash, and Wesley went to see who it was. Meeting the newcomers at the edge of the hallway and the living room, everyone was happy to see Sora and Warren there safe…enough.

"Have you guys heard from Nori yet?" Sora asked immediately. He had been holding himself up well for quite a while, but he lost his strength again for a second, falling backwards. Warren caught him before he hit the ground, and the two of them looked up, both smiling embarrassedly. It was certainly a Kodak moment to see the bright red face of a man who usually looked so serious bashfully holding up the ditzy one.

"Yeah," Nehemiah answered after a second. "He's actually here."

"And you made it here too," Sora noted happily as he passed by Wesley to get to his and Nori's shared room. "That's good. Tiara was so worried about leaving you in there…thanks."

Wesley smiled, thinking to himself, _If you only knew the reason I survived is because I told them where you were. It's me who should be grateful you're still alive._ All five of them returned to the room. Warren chuckled slightly to see Chiyo spooning with Nori, her face buried in his hair. Sora, though, recognized the ashy blonde colored hair and slender frame.

In shock, he stuttered, "Is that? Is that Chiyo?" He approached the bed to get a closer look at the girl.

Vash gave an affirming, "Yup," that made Sora smile.

"That'll make Nori happy when he wakes up…Is he all right? What happened? You guys didn't find Tia did you?"

Everyone looked to Wesley, expecting an answer. He didn't really know that much of what happened, but he told all that he did know. Then, they went to go play video games to wait for Nori to wake up. There were five of them and only four controllers, though, so they would take turns staying in the room with Nori. Vash had just left, to be replaced by Warren—the sad loser of the race they had just finished. Warren was still in the doorway when Nori stirred with a moan and opened his eyes.

"Don't wake up," Warren joked, "I was enjoying admiring your new girlfriend. You two were adorable lying like that."

Nori moaned and mumbled a response that obviously meant, "Not funny, leave me alone."

"Die, die, die," came the sound of Roxas's evil voice from the living room.

"Roxas!" Nehemiah exclaimed, "This isn't a killing game!"

Nori sat up tiredly, but urgently, and asked, "Is he okay?"

"Yeah," Warren shrugged, "darkness is back, so we're kinda like," he held his hand up and moved his pointer finger in a circle to mean loopy.

Nori listened for a while, quietly watching Chiyo sleep while he did so. He was trying to account for all his friends by listening to their voices, and after accounting for all but one, he questioned, "Where's Tiara?"

"Vash says Wesley said you lost her."

Nori's eyes glazed over as he remembered that part. "Can I talk to Vash?" Nori wondered after a second.

Warren shrugged again and left the doorway to get Vash. Nori just looked at Chiyo while he waited for Vash to return. She scooted closer to Nori and pulled her arms around his waist.

When Vash came in, he asked, "What is it Nori?"

"My author's gone," Nori replied.

"And?" Vash probed, needing to know more information than that.

"Well, I need to go tell her family…that we lost her, that is. Shouldn't they know?"

"Do you want me to do that?" Vash was still trying to figure out what exactly Nori was getting at.

"And—and her friend too," Nori continued. "Her friend was so nice. No, I don't want you to do it for me. I have to do it, right? Would you come with me?"

"Nori, you don't have to do that right now."

Nori just nodded his head and slipped out of Chiyo's grasp. "Could you take me to the gate? And then you can tell her friend, and I'll take care of the family."

Vash tried to reemphasize that it wasn't necessary, but Nori wouldn't have it. Eventually, Vash gave in. Nori stood up, a little wobbly, but he hardly needed Vash's help at all. I guess Vash was more there for moral support. Everyone was too involved in the game to notice them leave. It had turned into a giant wreck with Roxas and Warren phasing in and out of their evil modes. They would just randomly spin out on the track causing near a hundred cars to pile up behind them.

Nori and Vash made it to the gate all right, though. That was a bit surprising because of the darkness, but Nori was able to make the gate work by following the same steps Tia Dalma had used to get through it last time. First, he sent Vash to Becca's house, and then he stepped through to my house. He stood there in my room for a second, just trying to get his thoughts together. Then, he left my room to go downstairs to find my family.

The first person he came across was Dusty, who exclaimed, "Nori, you're back! Can you take me now?"

Nori shook his head in shock. He cried, "No, I'm not bringing anyone else back…I lost your sister." That hadn't come out the way he had planned or practiced so many times in his head, but he was glad it was out.

Dusty looked at Nori stunned. "What do you mean you lost my sister?"

"Like she's gone! Like I'm never going to find her because Lionel took her too."

Dusty was speechless for a moment before she mentioned, "I could help you find her. I'm really good with stuff like that. I'm the mastermind behind most of her ideas."

"No," Nori insisted. "I already lost one person from your family. I don't need to lose two."

Dusty pouted but seemed like she had given in. Nori just turned and went back to Tiara's computer to go home. This had been harder than he'd expected. He just gloomily stepped back to _**Fiction-land**_. Nori looked around at the Outlands as he stood there waiting for Vash to return. He was really surprised that everything was suddenly light again but didn't really feel like thinking about it.

Surprised by a little motion to the side of him, Nori turned to look and saw none other than my sister. "What the—?" Nori exclaimed in shock. Then, when he realized who it was, he let his head drop into his hands. "You're not supposed to be here," he complained. Knowing he couldn't just let her stay, he ordered firmly, "You go home now! 'Cuz I can't keep an eye on you or promise to protect you or—"

"Please," Dusty begged, pushing her bottom lip out and opening her eyes really wide. "You don't have to look out for me."

Nori just stood there, trying to figure out how to say no. That was one thing he wasn't good at. A second later, Vash walked by, and Nori almost begged him to help make Dusty go back to Earth. There was a problem with that, though. He had a pile of donuts in one hand and Becca hanging onto the other one. _He was way too easy to convince of something, _Nori thought to himself, _all you ever had to do was give him donuts._


	11. Chapter 10 Son of a biscuit eater

I would like to thank my friend and author Kateracks for inventing the lovely little guard boy (though none of us know that yet), and also for creating a version of herself as Number XIV in the organization (named Katex, very creative eh?). And...I would also like to thank the creators of One Piece, the anime show, for allowing me to use Zoro, Luffy, Nami, and Sanji to create a wonderful side plot in my story.

* * *

"Come on girl, you have to eat something," the soft voice begged, "Lionel will kill me if you don't eat anything."

I looked up into the face of the young guard who was watching over me and then to the halfway decent seeming food in his hands. He was kneeling in front of the bed I had curled up on. I had streams of tears pouring down my face because I thought Nori was actually dead.

Surprised for a moment, the boy commented, "Oh, I thought you were anime from your hair." I had changed into the kimono and pulled my hair back. After a second, he pulled a spoonful of the soup from the bowl and insisted, "Please eat."

I took the bowl just to make him happy and stirred it around since I still didn't really want to eat. Tia Dalma came into the room, asking the guard to leave. He agreed, slightly satisfied that the food was at least in my hands. Resting a hand on my shoulder, Tia comfortingly led me to a window in an adjoining room.

"Loo'," she pointed to out the window to the light that had returned, "Nori's feelin' better now."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"There woul'n't be any ligh' if 'e weren't still 'live."

"Wait, that doesn't make any sense…he said you control the weather."

"Aye," Tia assured—or questioned, I wasn't exactly sure which. "Bu' I give 'eem da ligh'."

It quickly made sense why light returned the first time when we first got to _**Fiction-land**_ and why everything was so gloomy when Nori was feeling depressed. But why did she give it to him? Then, it dawned on me. She knew Lionel would take her captive that day whether she let Nori die or not. She knew I would come save him, so she knew if she acted like she didn't care, Lionel would think of her as easier to break. While she was being broken, however, she didn't want _**Fiction-land**_ to be entirely lost to the light, so she passed the light on to a person she knew could survive a lot. I asked her, just to make sure I had guessed correctly.

"Aye," she replied at the end, adding, "Bu' 'e don' know 'e have it. If 'e know, Lionel know. Thas why we use Nori an' not Wesley."

"Wha'?" I questioned, still confused. That didn't make sense to me. I knew I had created Wesley to withstand the pressure to give away information. It's not like he would tell the world he had it or anything.

"Nori's happy enou' ta geeve ligh' to da worl' wit'out knowin' eez doin' it," Tia Dalma explained.

"Yeah," I concurred, finally understanding, "it's pretty hard to make Nori sad." Then, I went back to sitting on the bed and picked up the bowl of soup. "Is this stuff any good?"

Tia Dalma just shrugged.

Nori walked somewhat grumpily behind the three others. They were all happy, which was making him mad—one because he had just died again, two because he lost me, and three because he didn't want either of the two girls to be there. Of course, they were thrilled about being in _**Fiction-land**_ and were excitedly remarking at every little detail…everything that he had already once explained to me.

Vash too was happy—after all, he had donuts; what more did he need—so he was making Nori explain things over again and complaining about Nori's apathetic mood. The only thing that made Nori happy was to see their home in the distance. It meant he could pretend his head still hurt, go back to bed, and ignore everybody. It didn't turn out that way, though.

As soon as he opened the door, Sora grabbed his arm and demanded, "Where did you go?"

"I had something I had to do," Nori replied. "Since when does it matter?"

"Since things started getting so serious."

"Hey, you know what, I'm fine aren't I? I had Vash with me and his giant nuclear bomb on his arm. Nothing bad was going to happen," Nori defended, pushing Sora's hand off his arm.

"I'm not worried about you Dude," Sora countered, pulling Nori far enough into the house that he could see Chiyo on the floor in his room crying. "I'm worried about that."

All the anger that had built up in Nori throughout the day melted away. His heart fell to pieces to think he was the one who made her cry. Sora walked away to leave the two of them alone, and Nori carefully walked into the room. He slid to the floor next to her and leaned his head on her shoulder.

After a second of listening to her sob, he began, "Hi Chiyo…What's wrong?"

She looked up with a sniff. "You scared me Nori; you left me."

"What's the matter with that? You knew I'd come back, didn't you?"

"I promised to never let go of you, and when I woke up, you were gone…We haven't seen each other in a whole year, and then, just like that, you were gone again."

Stroking her hair comfortingly, Nori stated, "But it was you that left last time Chiyo. Nothing ever happened to me. I've just been waiting for you."

Chiyo shivered, so Nori pulled her into his arms and ran his hand up and down her arm to warm her, or comfort her, or fix whatever the problem was, as she cried, "I haven't seen any people in a year, and I've never ever been to _**Fantasy-land**_, so the people I do see aren't people I've ever seen before—not that I'd be likely to recognize anyone but you. Even your narrator doesn't sound familiar. Your voice is the only one I can remember." She stopped for a moment to take a breath. "Please just hold me, and cuddle me, and whisper in my ear, because that's all I want to do right now."

So Nori did. He pulled her head to his chest and rested his chin on it to whisper things to her. Figuring it would help her be comfortable around his new friends, he told her funny stories about them, starting with Sora…

Some time later, Warren burst into with the room Dusty in one hand and Becca in the other and demanded, "Who are these two girls that were sitting in my hammock?"

Nori looked up innocently and explained, "That's Tiara's sister Dusty and their friend Becca."

"You idiot!" Warren exclaimed, "You keep bringing these teenage girls up here! Why can't you bring us someone helpful?"

"I could be helpful if I wanted to," Becca noted. "I just choose not to be."

Dusty slapped her from across Warren. "You're not helping any," she said.

Nori laughed quietly. In anger, Warren formed a small fire ball and flung it at Nori, purposefully missing by an inch. "Hey, what was that for?" Nori complained.

"It's not funny. No one is allowed in my room; you know that, but no, you had to bring two more completely useless teenage girls and let them mess around with my stuff."

Dusty wanted to say something, but she didn't get the chance because Nori quickly defended himself, "It's not my fault they were in your room. I came straight here when I got home. If it's such a big deal to you, you were in the living room when they got here. You should have stopped them."

"Right, I was in the living room," Warren said sarcastically.

"That's what you get for volunteering to go get chips and soda. Now your pillows are gonna smell like girls," Sora noted with a tinge of Warren's sarcasm, as he came in from the living room.

"I didn't volunteer, I got volunteered because Roxas was afraid I'd beat him again."

"Whatever," Sora rolled his eyes, officially ending the argument. "Now that everyone's here, alive, and awake at the same time, let's meet and see what all happened today…and why darkness keeps flashing in and out."

Sora left and Warren grumpily followed, still holding the two girls by the arms. He intended to keep an eye on them and make sure they didn't cause anymore trouble than they already had. Nori climbed to his feet and then helped Chiyo up as well. Smiling a question to her, she returned a smile in reply that said, "Yeah, I guess we can go out there," so they went to the living room for the conference.

Nehemiah presided over the meeting, so as soon as everyone had scattered themselves about the living room with various chairs or pillows, he began, "All right we have three new people: Becca, Chiyo, and Dusty," he pointed to the three girls in turn, "they're all here. We have all the not new people: me—here—Nori."

Nori answered, "Here."

"Roxas and Sora," Nehemiah called.

"Both here," Sora replied.

"Warren."

"Here," he mumbled grumpily.

"All right…and then the new people who aren't so new: Tiara's not here, Vash is here, and Wesley…where's Wesley? Warren, he didn't come back with you?"

"No," Warren responded cautiously. Then he explained:

We were walking back from the store when Wesley randomly asked, "You're not Sora, are you?"

"No," I replied, confused as to why he would ask.

"He's the short one then, with the really weird hair?"

"Yup…why do you ask?"

He tilted his head toward the right, pointing out the man I'd fought the night before, and whispered, "That man's lookin' for 'im…He seems pretty desperate 'bout it too."

"And you know this how?"

Wesley just smiled guiltily. He had done that every time someone had slightly mentioned the things that happened to him while they were all escaping. I was starting to get suspicious about him when the Flaming Maniac caught sight of us and seemed to grow ten times more angry than he had been the second before.

When he started towards us, Wesley shoved me further from him and ordered, "Run."

I would have done so, but he didn't run with me. Confused, I stood there with a questioning look on my face.

He repeated the order and then explained, "If you're not Sora, he's not really after you. Staying here will only get the both of us in trouble."

I didn't know what he meant by that, but I knew that if I asked, he wouldn't tell me. Instead, I pretended to leave and hid behind some bushes a little ways away to watch.

The Flaming Maniac grabbed his wrist angrily and commented, "You're a liar!"

"I am not!" Wesley insisted. "Well, actually I am, but I swear I never lied to you…not that you're one to be talking. Whatever happened to absolutely free?"

"That…was an accident," he admitted, "but you're free enough now, aren't you?"

"Well, what do you want then?" Wesley demanded, freeing his wrist.

"Xaldin's pretty mad that you lied to him."

"I didn't lie to you!"

"Where's Sora then?"

"Well, he's not there now, but I swear—by a thousand years of servitude to Davy Jones—that he was there."

"Right," the Flaming Maniac agreed sarcastically. "We'll see about that, but since I really don't feel like fighting you right now," he gestured to another person in the same cloak with short, blonde hair, "we're going to do this the easy way."

The blonde one didn't even move. He just looked over and Wesley turned into dice. The Flaming Maniac put Wesley in his pocket, and they all disappeared through a portal before I was even able to stand up.

He finished, "Not that I mind any. He was clearly working for them."

"That's impossible," Dusty interrupted, "Wesley would never do something like that."

Everyone looked to Nori, expecting him to explain to her—just as he had explained to me several times—that characters aren't necessarily the way they were created, but instead, Nori sighed, "I find it hard to believe he would do that too. Why would he save my life if he were working for Organization XIII and CrawFish?"

Wesley was finally let out of the dice inside of a jail cell. He stretched, happy to be able to move again, but when he realized where he was, he pounded his fist on the floor.

"Damn, not another bloody prison!" He shouted in anger. Then, he noticed who was on the other side of the bars. There was Axel and Demyx and the one that scared Wesley, and the guy who turned him into a dice. These strange people with weird hair and magical powers who all dressed alike were multiplying very quickly. He was starting to regret making himself their enemy—or slave, depending on the moment.

"Why'd you lie to us?" Demyx asked.

Defensively, Wesley gestured to Axel, "Like I already told him, I didn't lie to ye! Sora really went to Aerith's place, an' that's why he's all merrily walkin' around now! Is it really my fault if he left before ye got there?"

The dice guy chuckled slightly. "It certainly is nice to hear a familiar voice. Where are you from? Below a bridge somewhere?"

"No, uptown London, an' I ain't no Cockney neither," Wesley answered.

He just chucked again. A slight, "No?" came from his mouth in disbelief. After all, Wesley hadn't sounded very proper at all.

Wesley took a deep breath to calm himself, knowing that he always fell back to pirate slang when he was frustrated, and replied, "My father is the governor of Port Royal, which makes me equally adequate in acting the part of pompous, proper, British ass as you are."

"Son of the governor," the third cloaked man mumbled interestedly to himself. Not that it mattered in _**Fiction-land**_ who Wesley's father was. Parents were usually only parents in the story.

The British man was offended; though, he refused to show it, simply retorting, "More likely, he's the son of a biscuit eater."

No one understood that insult except for Wesley who was familiar with the phrase that meant: your father was a sailor who got your mum pregnant, disappeared, never returned, and most likely died. Wesley was immediately to his feet and at the door.

He rested his hands on the bars, leaned through the door, and insisted, "I am not!"

The British man got close up in Wesley's face and whispered, "No one learns to speak like that unless their father does not teach them, and whose father refuses to teach their son unless there is no father? You obviously learned to speak English on a ship."

"That I did!" Wesley agreed loudly. "But that is not to say my father never taught me the proper way. I know perfectly well how to speak the language; I simply choose not to think that hard when I could be pondering how I shall escape from this brig in front of your very eyes."

He thought for a second and then stated, "I knew it! You're a pirate."

After a moment of Wesley staring blankly at him, trying to figure out how he guessed that, Wesley calmly responded, "Interesting deduction; though, I am not certain how you came to such a conclusion."

"The son of the governor," the British man explained, beginning to pace, "is left on a ship where he is not surrounded by the proper influences of Lieutenants and others of his class, and instead learns insubordination and how to defile his own language without regret. No other way could a lad your age stand before us and state with such confidence that you would escape our custody. What other ship could teach a child that?"

"I admire your reasoning Sir," Wesley stated. Then, emptying his pockets and handing a bunch of stuff to the British man, he continued, "Here are your things back."

"What?" Demyx asked, confused.

Axel grabbed something from the British man, noting, "Hey! That's mine."

The British man looked silently to Wesley for an explanation. Wesley smiled and explained, "That's everything I've stolen from the four of ye today. There should be things that belong to each of ye. Figure we best start things off on the right foot."

"What do you mean?" The third one, who kind of had dreadlocks, asked with some humor in his voice—the way Barbossa or Koehler, Wesley's worst enemies, would talk.

"As a pirate you can legally torture me for any reason you want, and I just happen to know you have a reason…By the way, the answer is no. I won't tell you."

He shrugged, "Well, you said you wanted to know what I could do."

"You don't look too hot," commented the girl who had just entered the prison area. Wesley didn't have to look up to tell she was a girl, but he did a little anyways. Surprise, surprise, she was dressed like everyone else.

He shrugged from the back of his cell. "Hmm, I've felt worse." He pulled his sword out of it's sheath, boredly admired it for a second, and tossed it aside, knowing it wouldn't help him against these people. Were they trying to intimidate him by using a different person each time? How many had he met? Eight? This was the first girl heed seen, but he was sure there would be more. The strange thing about her was she actually looked like a normal person, without the unnatural, gravity-defying hair.

Wesley walked up to the door, exaggerating the little limp he had and brushing his hair out of the way, so the girl could clearly see the cut on his cheek. She gulped slightly, and Wesley smiled.

"It's nothing…What's your name?"

"Katex," the girl replied, unsure if she should tell him or not.

Wesley wondered what was up with all the weird names—Demyx and Katex were the only ones he knew—but he simply responded, "Well then, Katex, when you leave would you mind telling the man with the six weird sticks that it hurt worse when ol' redhead fought me this morning, that I've clearly recovered from both, and that I'm starting to get bored." He smiled again and mindlessly glanced at his fingernails to emphasize the bored part.

Katex chuckled. "You have a deranged sense of enjoyment, you know that? I guess that's why Xaldin likes you so much."

"Who's he?" Wesley asked dumbly, raising one eyebrow.

"The man with six weird sticks," Katex answered with a laugh. When Wesley's expression didn't change a bit, she continued, "Honestly! He walks around telling everyone about you—mostly how he tricked you and beat you, but still! He likes you, and I think it's 'cuz you've got that much in common."

"That we both gain a deranged sense of enjoyment from my suffering?" Wesley asked to make sure he understood what they had in common. Resting his elbows on the bars, and leaning onto his hands, he continued, "Honestly, it's not really a pleasant thing for me; though, I'd like your friend to think I enjoy it as much as he does. It's a mental thing…if I get back up and smile after every time he knocks me down, eventually he'll get bored."

"Or you'll die," she added bluntly.

"I'm not afraid to die…I'm afraid of Demyx's magical buckets of water, but I'm not afraid to die."

Katex broke out laughing. Wesley waited patiently for her to stop laughing. When she finally had, after almost falling out of the chair she was in, Wesley smiled again.

"Well, are ye gonna go get 'im?" He inquired after a second. "The sooner he gets here, the sooner he'll get bored, the sooner I get out."

She just shook her head. Wesley started pouting, and Katex gave in.

"I don't get you, Pirate Boy, but if you're going to force me…" She stood to her feet and created a strange oblong board that she used to move around on. "Be good," she ordered as she slid away.

Wesley called after her, "No worries! It's not like there's anywhere I can go."

A second later, when he was sure she was gone, Wesley walked over to the edge of the cell door to examine the source of the strange, glowing bars. They seemed to be coming in a continuous flow from two small pieces of metal…magnets maybe. He went back to the rear of the cell to grab his sword. Then, eventually he was able to pry the two magnets apart and stuff the blade of his sword between them. The flow was disrupted, and the whole door disappeared.

Wesley smiled. "That's what I thought," he congratulated himself quietly as he walked through the now open doorway. Grabbing his sword because he didn't want to lose it—and because it would confuse his captors more if they didn't know how he got out—he closed the door behind him and ran down the hallway.

Xaldin and Katex returned to the cell to find Wesley gone and their boss Xemnas glaring angrily into the cell. Immediately, Xaldin turned to Katex and shouted, "This is why you don't leave the prison area when you're dealing with pirates!"

"You weren't mad at her five minutes ago," Xemnas noted, turning toward the two inferiors, "before you found out he was gone. In fact, you asked her to wait a minute so you could finish what you were doing. Now what were you doing again? Let's see…oh yes, you were getting after Axel for letting him go the first time."

That embarrassed Xaldin because he knew he had been caught. He smiled sheepishly.

"Whoa," Demyx interrupted, having just rounded the corner with Zexion, and noticing that Wesley wasn't in there anymore. "How'd he get outta there?"

Zexion brushed his silver hair out of his face for a second and began to explain, "Well that's simple. He just—"

Xemnas broke in, "Doesn't matter. Just catch him again, and next time he won't escape." Everyone obeyed, turning to chase after me, but Xemnas stopped Zexion, noting, "You knew there was a way to break out and you didn't fix it yet?"

Zexion gulped before answering, "But Sir, I told you when we built this, if you want it made this way, there is no way to fix it."

Somewhere in the middle of that sentence, Xemnas ordered, "Make it impossible to get out."

Wesley knew he couldn't stop running. He also knew he was lost, but if he ran down every hallway, eventually he'd find the door. He found Axel long before he found the door. Slamming on his breaks, Wesley turned and slipped into a room. It was a mess, with dirty clothes scattered around the room, but it had a window in the back. Walking to the window and opening it, Wesley realized it was close enough to the ground for him to jump out. When he hit the ground, he tumbled a little, having hit it harder than he expected, but he could now see the gate to the building. Now knowing where he was going, he climbed to his feet and started running again.

Axel suddenly appeared out of a portal halfway between Wesley and his escape, asking, "How'd you get out?"

Wesley smiled and turned to run the other direction. After rounding the corner of the building, Wesley got far enough ahead that Axel couldn't see him any longer. Taking advantage of that, Wesley hid behind a wall and waited. A moment later, Axel came around the corner as well. He paused, surprised to not see Wesley, but figuring he was just really slow that day, he kept running around the building. When Axel was no longer in sight, Wesley started back to the gate.

As he turned the corner he had just come around the second before, he ran into another person. He was relieved that this person wasn't in the same black cloak, but for some reason Wesley was afraid of him too. Perhaps it was the short, green hair, but Wesley didn't think so. Both of them drew their swords in shock; however, the green haired man had three and would probably win.

"Have I met you before?" Wesley questioned nervously, "I know I don't recognize you, but for some reason, you scare me. So I think I'll just go the other way." Wesley started backing away from the man.

"I'm Roronoa Zoro," the man answered, allowing the third sword to drop from his mouth in a sort of surprised way.

"That would be why!" Wesley exclaimed, realizing who the man was and turning around to run away. He was not the best person to run into when you're a pirate.

Zoro called after him, "I'm not a pirate hunter anymore Wesley," adding to himself, "most people know that by now."

A moment later, Wesley came flying back around the corner and ran to hide behind Zoro begging, "Will you protect me from them?"

Zoro laughed, jokingly adding, "But if I were still a pirate hunter I would most certainly kill you. You're incredibly wanted by the authorities, yet surprisingly easy to trick."

"Shush," Wesley commanded. "That's not nice. Just hide me!" He positioned himself back-to-back with Zoro in a way that no one could see him from the front.

"Who are you hiding from?"

Peeking over Zoro's shoulder for a second, Wesley saw Demyx, Katex, and Xaldin and whined, "Them!"

Zoro allowed a little fear to cross his face. "All three of them…at the same time?" He asked just to make sure.

"Four, actually," Wesley corrected, "if you count the one I tricked into running the wrong direction."

"Oka-ay," Zoro said, thinking. "I…like your idea. Run!"

Both of them quickly sheathed their swords and ran towards the gate. Axel once again got in the way before they escaped.

"That would be the other one," Wesley noted.

They instantly found themselves surrounded on four sides, but that was okay. They had a total of four swords. Three of them belonged to one person, and he somehow managed to fight with all three at the same time, but Wesley was just glad he wasn't dead yet. Wesley dodged a swipe from one of the "six weird sticks" and grabbed it to swing it back at Xaldin.

"That actually worked surprisingly well," Zoro complimented. He had lost one of his swords, so he didn't have one in his mouth at the moment.

"Thanks," Wesley was able to get out as he ducked from another attack. After a second, he wondered, "Why are you here anyways?"

"Tiara told me Queen Dalma was most likely trapped here. I couldn't resist the adventure," he replied, having knocked Demyx to the ground and quite a ways away.

"Here?" Wesley questioned curiously. "Tiara told me she was in Writers' Block…but then, that was before Tiara got captured. Tiara is captured, isn't she?"

"I don't think so," he answered skeptically. Another second later, he commented, "Oh, look! There she is."

Two orange haired girls were approaching from the side. Neither of them were me, the Tiara Wesley was obviously talking about. Wesley looked at the two girls for long enough to figure that out, before the distraction allowed someone to pound him on the head.

Wesley fell to the ground, slightly mumbling, "That's not Tiara," and then he passed out.


	12. Chapter 11 Combining forces

The sound of his phone ringing caused the man to leave the room. It was the President calling again. He answered the phone when he got out of the room, and the President was instantly demanding more explication again.

"We have things under control Mister President," the man insisted, adding, "from what we learned from Pinocchio, we've discovered that there has been a breach between the world of fiction and our world. He swears he doesn't know how to fix the problem, but the gate appears to be related to the internet. We quickly gathered a conference of some of the most famous and least famous authors. Hopefully they can combine their creativity to solve the problem…After all, they created this fictional world."

"Are there any preliminary suggestions?" The President asked.

"As far as they can tell, the only solution is to completely destroy the internet…or at least shut it down, sort of like a worldwide reboot. They think that may send everything back, reset the world, but I'm not ready to take such drastic measures. We'll keep working on it."

That ended the conversation, and the man simply rejoined the author conference as if nothing had happened.

"Nori," Sora whispered. When Nori didn't respond—after all, he was sleeping—Sora repeated, "Nori…Nori!" He continued until it was a shout. Still, Nori wouldn't wake up. Neither would Chiyo who happened to be lying next to him in bed. Frustrated, Sora started jumping on the bed and shouting, "NORI!"

Finally, Nori sat up with a moan, mumbling, "What is it?" Chiyo still didn't wake, though.

"Vash made everyone breakfast," Sora replied calmly.

"That's what you woke me up for…go away." Nori fell back down to sleep some more, but he accidentally missed the edge of the bed, falling to the hard floor. "Fine! Fine, I'm up!" He agreed grumpily.

"I didn't do that," Sora defended. "You did that to yourself."

"Whatever," Nori grumbled, climbing to his feet. He leaned down over Chiyo and lightly kissed her forehead whispering, "Chiyo, it's time to get up."

Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled up at Nori.

Sora was astonished. He hopped off the bed commenting, "Next time I'm waking you up that way Nori."

"You do that, and I'll slap you," Nori responded, grasping Chiyo's hand in his and walking toward the kitchen.

"At least you'll be awake," Chiyo joked.

"Does our stove even work?" Nori wondered, remembering the breakfast part.

"I dunno…the house is still standing," Sora answered.

Nori stopped in shock when he reached the living room. Their couch and video games had been replaced by a dinning room table and chairs. Nehemiah had just finished setting dishes out—you know, real dishes—that Nori didn't even know they owned. Vash appeared from the kitchen, looking funny in his hot mitt and apron, but carrying a steaming platter of delicious looking food. Drool forming in his mouth, Nori wandered to the table and sat down.

Dusty was already there, casually waiting in expectation. Becca quickly appeared from the kitchen as well, having been the first out of bed and the one who convinced Vash to make breakfast with her. Nori knew Vash made good breakfast, but he didn't really do it very often. Chiyo sat down in the chair next to Nori, setting his hand in her lap to reconnect the bond between them. Sora had disappeared again but returned with Warren.

Warren's face was peeling really bad, and he rubbed it muttering, "I hate fire," as he sat down at the table.

"Strange coming from someone who's got more fire in his hands than brains in his head," Dusty mocked. That got a few laughs from some people.

He hadn't realized he had sat next to her, so jumping to the side a little, he said, "You again?" He went to change chairs, but by then everyone was sitting, so he had nowhere to move to.

All the food passed around, everyone giving a little, "Thank you," as they served themselves. Everyone except for Warren. He simply noticed Dusty trying to take her first bite. He stopped her when the food was halfway to her mouth saying, "We pray before we eat."

Dusty gave a little embarrassed smile, as she was locked in position with her mouth wide open. Everyone else looked around curiously. Then, Warren continued, "Pray that I won't kill you before we've finished."

Nori broke out laughing, followed by Sora and Warren. Dusty's face filled with anger and embarrassment. He had gotten her back pretty good. Based on the way Nori and Sora were laughing, she could tell he wouldn't really kill her, but that he had done it all to catch her unawares and spite her more.

Dusty stuffed the bite in her mouth and poked her fork at Warren, replying, "I'll get you back for that someday. I will."

"If I don't kill you first," Warren repeated, seeming much more sincere about it that time. He smiled crookedly but continued honestly, "There has been way too much estrogen around here lately. Look, we're eating off porcelain plates and crystal glasses! Before tomorrow we'll tie bows in our hair and prance around in pink tutus."

Sora and Nori glanced at each other worriedly from around Chiyo. This time it was her turn to laugh really loud. "I wouldn't make you do that!" She exclaimed, speaking for the first time to people that she hadn't met before her time in Writers' Block. "Look at me! I'm in skater shoes." When she realized everyone was looking at her, though, she covered her mouth and was quiet again.

After a second of everyone recovering from shock, Dusty agreed by asking, "Does it look like I do ballet? If I were ever wearing a pink tutu, I would let you kill me."

"I like pink," Becca mentioned. "It's a fun word to say, kinda like Fwicha." (Fwicha is a certain sound effect that sounds slightly like a whipping noise.)

That ended the conversation, creating a short, awkward silence during which everyone just ate. When most people were done, and the boys were starting to clear the table—all with hopes that by helping out with that they wouldn't have to do the dishes—someone knocked twice on the front door. The girls were all excited about who it might be. Vash was curious, but not excited. Everyone else, though, knew it was going to be Anakin. After all, it was the weekend.

Anakin—the nine year old, podracing version—didn't wait for someone to open the door for him. He just walked in asking, "Are you ready?" Then he noticed the table in the living room. "You made some major adjustments," he noted as Nehemiah approached him.

Nehemiah smiled. "It's only temporary…Sorry, but we can't go this weekend. We've got a lot of things—"

Dusty and Becca ran between the two of them, interrupting, "Yes we can!"

Becca fell to her knees and begged, "Please, we'll go podracing with you!"

Nori shook his head. "We can't do that…you guys promised to come here to save Tiara."

"That sounds like fun," Chiyo whispered to Nori, pulling him a little towards the door. "We should go."

"Chiyo," Nori insisted, "if you move here with me we can go every weekend. Right now, we've gotta save the world."

"Please," was all Chiyo said, but it got Nori to give in.

He sighed, "I guess…if we don't stay too long. I think the girls will focus better if they get to try first. You girls will have to ride with one of us before you get to try flying on your own, though."

"Dibs!" Becca exclaimed, "I call Anakin!"

Dusty knew she couldn't go with Nori either. All she had to do to figure that out was glance at Chiyo protectively clinging to his arm.

"Well I wouldn't be helpful," Vash noted, "I can't fly either, so I'll just stay here and clean up with Nehemiah."

Sora jumped up excitedly. "Ooh, I'll go. I haven't been in a—" POP!

Becca screamed and jumped into Dusty's arms, crying, "What just happened?"

"Oh, he's just fine," Nehemiah explained as he carried a few dishes to the kitchen. "He's just in his story now."

A second later, Roxas reappeared in his place, looking a little lightheaded. "Who's he?" Dusty asked curiously, "And why is he here instead of Sora?"

"Whoa," Roxas said, dizzily grabbing his head, "I feel…empty." He wobbled, stumbled, and fell to the floor, unconscious.

Nehemiah rushed to his side, being the mature one who, lately, had been left in charge of sick people. Roxas wasn't waking up.

Cocking his head to the side, Nori asked, "Hey Miah, do you got it under control." Nehemiah nodded, so Nori continued, "All right Warren. That means you're with us."

"Great," Warren mumbled under his breath, grabbing his jacket and following everyone out the door, "the last thing on Earth I want to do is fly with this girl."

Dusty took that surprisingly well, smiling and replying, "Then it's a good thing we're not on Earth, are we?"

Six eyes stared down on Wesley as he first started to open his eyes again. At first he didn't recognize them—well, at first, he had thought there were twelve eyes because his vision hadn't cleared yet, but once he had narrowed it down to three people watching him, he still didn't recognize them. He decided to glance around the room instead, to determine where he was. He couldn't figure that out either. All he could tell was that it was a stick hut with a palm branch roof.

The man patted him roughly on the shoulder complimenting, "You fought hard out there kid."

With that, Wesley remembered the voice—along with the battle that had knocked him out. He shrugged, "I've done better."

"But you're injured!" The shorter orange haired girl mentioned. "With how many bruises we found, there's no doubt you weren't fighting to your potential."

"It all makes me wonder what you were doing there," Zoro questioned, crossing his arms.

Wesley knew he had to explain; after all Zoro had explained his reasoning during the middle of the battle. "Uh…" Wesley began, "I was…trying to save Queen Dalma…in my own, different way."

The smile on Wesley's face gave away that he hadn't told the whole story, so Zoro ordered, "Come on boy; spill it all."

"All right, I met this girl named Tiara—my author in fact—who wanted me to break her out of Writers' Block so she could go look for Queen Dalma there."

The longer orange haired girl interrupted, "Wait a second. You're author's name is Tiara too? I wonder if they're all named that."

"Is your author's name Tiara too?" Wesley wondered.

"No…I have a friend," she turned to Zoro, "You met Nori once, didn't you? He brought his author Tiara down to my house. They're the ones who told me the queen was trapped somewhere."

"Nori? It's the same Tiara then," Wesley concluded.

"She was in Writers' Block? What happened? Was Nori with her?"

"Aye, Nori was in there with her. I have no idea how they got there, though. I just know that once I broke them out, they went looking for the queen, and didn't find her. Nori almost died—which I had to save him—and Tiara got captured…prolly in the same place Tia is. I got in pretty big trouble for it all—with these guys, that is."

After a second, Zoro suggested, "We should find them, combine our forces. We may be able to accomplish more that way."

"Uh, no," Wesley countered. "First of all, those crazy guys in cloaks are just following me anywhere I go. I think joining anyone will just hinder your success. Plus, I have no idea where Nori lives. I'd better just fend for myself." He stood up to leave the hut.

"Oh baka Wesley!" The shorter haired girl exclaimed, slapping Wesley on the back to knock some sense into him. "You can't do that—take on the whole dark side by yourself. Do you want to die?"

Wesley grabbed his head in pain and returned to the straw bed he had been on as he responded, "No!"

"Then Nami's right. You won't make it on your own," Zoro agreed. "Stick with us. We seemed to make a pretty good team." He leaned back in his chair confidently.

"No," Wesley argued, "I won't survive whether I'm with you or without…that's a given. Why should I get you in trouble? No, I'll go in there and cause a distraction—what I'm best at—an' while they're dealing with me, you three will actually be able to accomplish something."

Everyone thought for a moment before Zoro decided, "Fine with me."

Nami put her hand on Zoro's chest. "No, that's not fine! We have a policy in our crew that no one with a worthy idea goes down without honest effort on all of our parts. We won't just leave you."

"But just the four of us will never make it without some sort of distraction," Zoro mentioned. "And he doesn't know where his backup is."

"Actually, I was their backup," Wesley corrected.

"Perhaps we can't combine with his gang," Nami noted, "but nothing prevents us from calling our crew together and taking the glory for ourselves." She added mostly for herself, "I'm sure there'll be a reward."

Zoro nodded his head, beginning to agree. "That's not a half-bad idea," he stated.

Wesley looked around in a half shocked state. In all his life there had never been people who wanted to help him. He didn't know what to do. His jaw began to shake as he realized they weren't joking. It would obviously be easier for them if they let Wesley do the distracting, but for some reason they wanted to increase the chance of casualties just to save him. A smile came to his face for a second because of the thought. He wanted to protest, but he wanted to be grateful. What on Earth was that feeling in his stomach? It was like delight mixed with an foreign sense of importance and a nervous fear of betrayal…They weren't actually going to help him, were they?

Zoro held a hand out to help Wesley off the bed. "Come on. We better get outta here."

Unsurely, Wesley accepted the hand, but before they could leave the hut, and unfamiliar laugh came from the corner. They all turned to look as the voice claimed, "Ha! I've found you!" Another cloaked man appeared from another portal. He had pink hair and carried a large scythe.

"Another one!" Nami exclaimed in frustration.

"How many of them are there?" Wesley asked.

"Thirteen…officially," Zoro explained. "One of 'em's missing, though, and there are some people who dress the same and hang out with them who aren't official."

"Why can't they just send the same one every time? I figured out how to escape the redhead," Wesley complained.

"They have sent me," the pink haired man Marluxia bragged, "because the others have failed, and I will not fail!"

"That's a big scythe," Wesley muttered. "He could decapitate us, and we wouldn't even be able to touch him."

"Now would be a good time to have Luffy around," Zoro muttered between his teeth.

"Who?" Wesley wondered.

No one got a chance to answer him, however, because they suddenly heard a loud, "Gomu, gomu no ROCKET!" and a scrawny teenage boy with a straw hat flew through the wall of the house asking, "Did I hear my name?" as he slammed into the back of Marluxia's head.

"Luffy!" Nami exclaimed excitedly. Apparently the boy with the straw hat who could fly was very important to them.

"Why is he going to help us?" Wesley questioned quietly. "Because he can fly?"

"No silly," Zoro laughed slightly, "he can't fly. He's a rubber man."

"A what?"

Luffy was suddenly hurled across the room, landing at Zoro's feet. Zoro nudged him softly with his boot to encourage him to get back up, and Luffy did. Pulling his straw hat more securely on his head, he gripped his hands into fists and prepared to attack Marluxia again. He looked really cheesy standing there with his puny arms like he might dare fight that giant weapon. Then, for some reason he dropped his fists to his sides and turned his head to the side.

In a high pitched, corny voice, he asked, "Pink hair, eh? Are you a boy or a girl?"

That angered Marluxia, and he swung his scythe at Luffy, growling, "Don't mock me!"

Luffy ducked, allowing himself to escape the blow, but putting Zoro right in line of it. Having only a second to think, Zoro amazingly was able to draw all three of his swords and block the attack. Out of the blue, Luffy's arm started stretching until he could reach Marluxia's ankle. He grabbed it, tripping the girly-man. Wesley stared in shock as the arm shrunk back to its normal size. He understood why that would be helpful against the long attacks Marluxia could perform, but it just wasn't natural. He was starting to rethink the joining up with their crew part. Japanese people were so weird.

Luffy was on his feet, stretching out again to punch Marluxia, but in the last second he rethought his decision as Marluxia moved his scythe to slice off his arm. Instead, Luffy moved to the side and grabbed the handle of the scythe, flinging himself around to the back of Marluxia. He didn't let go of the scythe there, however, actually taking hold of it with his other hand as well, thus keeping Marluxia in place. Wesley suddenly noticed that a portal had appeared behind the group of spectators. Drawing his sword, he charged at it and started slashing at it to make it go away. It was no use, though.

Marluxia laughed slightly. "You know that won't work, don't you?"

Wesley smiled embarrassedly for a second. It was worth a try. "What's it for?" He wondered after a moment, "You wouldn't be thinking about cowardly fleeing us, would you?"

"No," he countered, managing to maintain his cool this time. A second later, all five of his enemies were falling into the portal, and he called after them, "I just don't want any more unexpected friends showing up."

Anakin and Becca were way ahead before the race even started. That was obvious. He was designed to be the only human in existence that could fly a podracer. That gave him the advantage. A lap and a half into it, Anakin lapped them. By the third, and final lap, Warren's pod and Nori's pod were still neck and neck, though. What was even better, was that Warren had stopped complaining about having to fly with Dusty. Now that he was in a competition, all that mattered was beating Nori and Chiyo.

He didn't even mind when Dusty shouted to him, "Faster, faster!"

Chiyo just clung to Nori as he tried to pull in front of Warren by turning the podracer upside down over top of them. Dusty screamed and demanded, "Where's the boost?"

Warren smiled slightly, having forgotten about that little trick. He pushed a button and their podracer suddenly zoomed past Nori's. Nori flipped back right side up and sighed. He couldn't boost then because there was a shortcut coming up that Warren didn't know about. He pulled sharply to the left, entering a tunnel that spiraled downward tightly. They popped out of the tunnel just in front of Warren and finished the race in that position. After handing over the keys to the owner of the track, Nori joined Chiyo by the fence. She downed a full bottle of water and then turned to Nori.

"I'm sorry 'bout your shirt Nori," she laughed.

Nori looked down at his shirt that was now covered in vomit and replied, "No problem," though it wasn't sincere in the least.

"I'm sorry for throwing up on you, I mean," Chiyo corrected. "Let's go again!"

Shaking his head in shock, Nori argued, "No way. You couldn't even make it through one time. I'm not taking you again unless you've got some motion sickness pills. I'm gonna go take a shower."

Nori wandered off towards the exit to the track. He was greeted in a not so kindly way by Warren, who asked, "Where'ye off to Odor Boy?" and Dusty who followed with, "Couldn't hold it all in trying to keep up with us, could you?" Nori just smiled sarcastically and kept walking.

Anakin earnestly questioned, "Hey wait. Where are you going?"

Turning around, Nori responded, "Home. Chiyo's not feeling too good…if you couldn't tell." He gestured to his shirt and then addressed Becca, Dusty, and Warren, "You guys can keep flying for a while if you want."

Then he left, and Chiyo hurried after him. After a second, Dusty exclaimed, "My turn!"

Warren rolled his eyes, knowing that he had to let her try to fly her own. She climbed into the driver's seat and was pulling on her helmet as he slid casually into the passenger's seat. He held a smirk on his face for a while, until the curiosity overcame her.

"What?" Dusty questioned, able to tell he had an insult on his mind.

"Nothing," Warren assured, but he quickly continued, "Do you really think you can fly this thing? There's a lot of buttons, you know."

"Yeah," Dusty responded, offended. "I'll do just fine."

The podracers were pulled up to the starting line. Dusty was driving one and Becca was driving the other. They watched as four circles above the starting line lit up on at a time, marking: III, II, I, GO! Both girls slammed their controls forward, and the race was on.

A second later, Warren crawled out of the wreck, complaining, "I can't believe you crashed it. We hadn't even left the starting line, and you already crashed it…and backwards! Podracers don't even go backwards, but somehow you crashed it backwards. I don't know if that's skill or just even more stupidity…"

As they were walking up to the door of the house, Warren was still ranting, "…and of course, I'm gonna have to pay for the damages, 'cuz you certainly don't have the money with you." He sighed. "This is why I don't want you girls touching my things. You can't touch anything without breaking it."

That last sentence trailed off at the end because when they walked in the house, they saw Roxas sitting on the floor in the living room trying his best not to cry as he said, "But…I don't want…to go…to the Castle…That Never Was."


	13. Chapter 12 The Castle That Never Was

Sorry for it being such a long time since my last update...Not like anyone's reading this anyhoo.

Well then, usually I thank the creators of various characters in my story, but this time I would NOT like to thank SquareEnix for creating the big green hole. That place scares me...

* * *

Warren immediately took his place on the couch—that had been returned to its proper location—and concernedly asked, "What is going on?" 

Vash explained, "While we were cleaning up, the subject of Queen Dalma just happened to come up. We got to talking about the fact that she wasn't in Writers' Block, and I wondered if she might be in CrawFish's castle…"

Nehemiah replied, "Could be, but that's so difficult to get to. We probably couldn't get there."

Roxas came out of the room where Nehemiah had laid him rubbing his eyes and mentioned quietly, "It's not near as hard as it used to be since his castle burnt down and he moved into The Castle That Never Was."

"How is that possible?" Nehemiah countered, "There's all those Organization XIII people there. They could still totally kick our butts."

Roxas just shrugged. "I dunno."

Vash agreed with him, though. "Sometimes a lot of people is too many people. It becomes too easy to pretend like you belong."

"Well, if it's so easy now, how do you get there?" Nehemiah demanded of Roxas.

"I dunno," was all he said.

"Come on, you used to live there. How can you not remember how to get there?"

"I dunno. I just don't."

Suddenly Sora's voice came from the living room, "No Roxas, you could get there easily, not the rest of us."

Roxas jumped to the side a little, questioning, "How'd you get over there?"

Sora hopped onto the television and sat with his feet dangling, "We separated. Do you have a problem with that?"

"It just…surprised me, I guess."

"Well, the fact is, anyone who's been there before could get in very easily."

"Yeah, 'cuz they remember how to get there," Roxas mentioned. "I don't remember though."

Sora kind of laughed. "No, it's not that. The forest remembers you. Because you've been accepted by the forest once, it will recognize you and not try to kill you. The rest of us would all be attacked by the wild things that guard it."

"Right, so I can wander around in this forest for days, completely lost, and starve to death…except I can't die, so I'd just starve."

"Organization XIII wouldn't let that happen Roxas. If they saw you were lost in the forest, they'd come get you out…They miss you, you know."

"They do?" Roxas asked, instantly losing himself in thought. He was trying to remember something…anything from the Organization. "Did I really have friends over there?"

Sora shrugged. "Seems like it."

Then Roxas burst out, "But all I can remember about them is you fighting them, you calling them bad. How can I go back there like nothing ever happened, not remembering who I liked, who I hated, what I acted like…and not just call them all bad?"

"Just start over, like you'd never ever met them before and let the relationships develop naturally."

"Who's he never met?" Nori asked as he entered the room, Chiyo still clinging to him.

"Organization XIII," Vash answered, a little confused by the conversation.

Nori frowned, knowing that Roxas had too met Organization XIII before. "No," he countered, "Roxas you used to live with them."

"And wouldn't it be a great idea if we sent him back?" Sora questioned from the television. Roxas just shook his head no, trying to get Nori to respond that way. After a second of waiting for Nori's blank stare of confusion to go away, Sora continued, "Tia might be there, you know, and we can't get there and look for her all in one trip without dying. It makes much more sense that we send him—who's been there before—to find her, and then once he has, we can plan how to break her out quickly, so less people get hurt."

Nori shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

"No!" Roxas countered. Then, he started trying to come up with other excuses. "But it's dark over there! What if I spend a couple weeks in the darkness and decide I don't want to come back? That might happen. Then, you destroyed me!"

"I'm gonna go take a shower now," Nori said, really ignoring the issue. Chiyo let go of Nori's hand as he walked toward the bathroom. Jokingly he inquired, "What? You don't want to come with me anymore?"

Sora just kept trying to convince Roxas. "I'll give you my phone. If you start to feel like you can't handle something, just call, and we'll come get you immediately."

"…and after a little while, you showed up. We still haven't convinced him," Vash finished.

"That's because I'm not going," Roxas insisted.

Warren leaned back on the couch, letting everything register, before he said, "You can't convince him to do it if he doesn't want to."

"What?" Sora asked in shock. "You're the only one who hasn't agreed with us."

"That's because I'm the only other one that's been on that side of the Outlands!" Warren replied harshly. "It's not as easy of a life as you may think…You realize, chances are, the moment he gets over there, he'll immediately rejoin the organization—not just in pretend, but because you just can't help being evil. He won't find Tia Dalma, and if…in the rare occasion that he does find her, he won't tell you."

"Well, why didn't you say that?" Nehemiah asked Roxas.

"I don't remember that," Roxas answered, slightly embarrassed. "I just know I don't like."

A second later, Warren added, "But it is a good idea." Roxas looked at Warren in shock. His last source of support was gone.

When everyone looked to Warren for an explanation, he continued, "If you were just asking him to go into the forest—or one of the cities of the forest—I would support your idea one hundred percent…granted that someone went with him. Because together, there's a certain element of peer pressure…a dare that passes around among friends to see who can cross the furthest back into the light without getting sucked into its grasp. We could bet each other that the other one wouldn't be able to find Tia Dalma…taunt one another until one of us did something we would get in trouble for—like breaking her out of jail. But if you're asking him to find her in The Castle That Never Was, no one can go with him."

Everyone was quiet for a moment, trying to find a way around this new obstacle. Becca wandered into the house just in time to hear Sora volunteer, "I'll go with him."

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"Not you," Sora corrected, "just me and Roxas because I can combine with him again and no one will know I'm there."

"What do you mean you guys can combine?" Becca questioned, still confused.

They just ignored her, and Warren crossed the room to kneel next to Roxas inquiring, "Can you do it now Roxas? If Sora goes with you?"

"Is it that important?" He wondered quietly.

"It's that important…it's the only way."

"And he'll bring me back?"

"He'll bring you back," Warren reassured.

Roxas silently stood and approached Sora who hopped off the television. "You're going then?" Sora asked, jokingly poking Roxas in the nose.

Roxas grumpily returned the gesture, smashing Sora's nose as he reluctantly agreed, "I guess."

A silence filled the room with expectation as Sora and Roxas just looked at each other. After a second, Roxas started fading and became transparent like Nori had been when he was dead. That worried Becca and Dusty who had seen him like that, but they didn't get a chance to express their concerns. He went all sparkly and disappeared for a moment before taking over Sora like he had a thousand times. Then, where there was once two, stood just Roxas. Becca was shocked, but she wasn't exactly sure what she wanted to say about it. Without saying a word, he went to their room to gather a few things. Warren casually walked back to his seat on the couch that had been stolen by Becca and Dusty. He easily picked Dusty up and slumped onto the couch, dropping her to the floor.

"Hey!" Dusty complained, but when she saw the kind of blank look on his face, she asked kindly, "Are you worried about your weird, split personality, friend?"

He glared at her, seemingly worried about what she might say when he responded with a slight, "Yes."

"I'm not mocking you," she comforted from the floor. "I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but I'm sure he'll be fine."

Roxas was still in the room gathering a few things absentmindedly when Nori got out of the shower. He buckled his belt and threw on a couple new shirts before inquiring, "So they convinced you to go then?"

Roxas shrugged and mumbled a little—which meant yes. A second later, though, he dropped his bag to his side and mentioned, "What if I forget you all? I mean, I forgot them when I came here, so why wouldn't I forget you when I go there?"

Nori smiled as he grabbed his wallet out of one of many pockets. Casually, he put one arm around Roxas, holding out a picture for him, and saying, "You won't forget us. Remember this?"

Laughing, Roxas asked, "Is that? How'd you get a picture of that?"

The picture was of Nori, Roxas, and Warren. It was Roxas's first time at the Pig and Whistle tavern around the block, and he hadn't liked his first taste of alcohol. He ended up spitting it up all over himself, and then Warren tried to force him to have more. The picture was of Warren pouring a beer on Roxas's face while Nori stood behind giving them both bunny ears.

"The bartender took it," Nori replied. "Here, it's for you to remember us by. Stick it in your shoe, so that you'll know we'll always be with you and Warren will always be there to convince you to do things you don't want to."

Roxas pulled off his shoe, placed the picture in the bottom of it, and stuffed his foot back in. "Thanks Nori," he said, pausing to look back when he reached the doorway.

"You won't forget us now will you?" Nori questioned.

"No," Roxas answered surely.

The pirate gang was caught—if you could call them a pirate gang. The only two who really claimed to be pirates were Wesley and Luffy. You couldn't call them anime either because Wesley wasn't anime; neither were they necessarily friends yet. They were sea farers, and they had all gathered to become the crew of one pirate ship…now if only they could get to their ship.

Zoro and Wesley were tied back-to-back by their hands, as were Nami and Tiara. Both were sitting on wooden plates being carried by a mob of pigmy looking natives. Luffy was in even worse shape, being tied to a pole by himself to be roasted like a pig. No one spoke as they were carried away, but all were obviously trying to come up with a plan. Marluxia wasn't around anymore, but that didn't make things any easier because all five knew that the second they escaped he would return. That made planning an escape twice as difficult; they also had to predict how he would attack in return.

Wesley was fidgeting, like playing with the rope holding their hands together, or scooting around—closer, further, left, right…Zoro couldn't tell if he was nervous or actually doing something until he felt what he was sure was a knife between their hands. He looked to Wesley in shock, asking silently with his eyes, "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Gesturing with his eyes to the man in front of him with Zoro's three swords, Wesley whispered, "If I get the perfect chance, I won't hesitate to take it."

Zoro sighed, quietly inquiring, "Do you really think that's the best idea? After all—"

Before he had finished, though, the rope tying the two of them together was cut, and Wesley jumped down on his end of the plank, flinging Zoro over his head. At the same exact instant, Wesley threw the knife into the pole that Luffy was tied to, only a few inches from his hands, and slid off the plank. Zoro landed on his feet and quickly grabbed his three swords. Now that they were breaking out, they had to go all the way. Wesley, who hadn't been able to find the person holding his sword in the crowd, grabbed a bow and some arrows from the pigmy nearest him.

Zoro and he stood back-to-back, once again ready to fight in all directions. Zoro was taking care of the people up close, while Wesley would shoot the people in the distance. Of course, Wesley refused to shoot anyone fatally, and he only shot the ones that were shooting back at them. Zoro, on the other hand, just sliced away. Wesley didn't like that, so he looked anxiously over to Luffy to see how he was coming at getting out.

Instead of just moving the rope to the knife like Wesley had expected him to do, Luffy had stretched out his hands, wrapped them around the knife, and was trying to pull it out of the pole. It eventually worked, and he began cutting the rope. Wesley had to look back to the pigmies because there were more shooting at them again. He carefully aimed, pulled back, and shot one in the shoulder. Then, he moved on to the next one: aim, pull back…and then he got shot in his outstretched arm.

An arrow from straight in front of him had hit him, not perpendicularly but parallel, digging in and going halfway up his arm. He let go, falling to one knee. His arrow went straight into the ground. He took a second to grow accustomed to the pain before gritting his teeth and slowly pulling it out. Trying again, he aimed, pulled back, winced, shot, and missed. The pain was too much for the strain it takes to use a bow, but, lucky for him, Luffy had gotten free.

The sound of, "Gomu gomu no," proved it, and his arms flailed viciously as he announced, "Machine gun!" A second later, every single pigmy had been knocked unconscious by his punches, and none of them were dead because of that.

Zoro ran to the two girls—who were still sitting on the palate, but it was now on the ground—cut them loose, and hurried off toward the shoreline stating, "We've got to get outta here as quickly as possible, before that girly-man comes back."

Wesley grabbed one of his belt-like ties from around his waist and quickly tied it around his arm to stop the bleeding before joining the other four in running off. When he caught up with them on the shore, he asked, "So where do you think we are?"

Zoro looked up in the sky and around at the sea. "I don't know. Nami, you're the navigator…" He left it open for her to answer.

Nami pulled out a map and thought for a while, examining everything she could see, before replying, "If I had to make a guess, I'd say The Mysterious Island," as she pointed to it on the map.

Everyone gathered around, Wesley noting, "I thought that was uninhabited."

"So did I," Zoro agreed. "I guess not."

"So what now captain?" Nami asked, and the group looked to Luffy for an answer.

Seeing everyone else look to Luffy, Wesley was in shock as he inquired, "You're the captain?"

"Yup," Luffy agreed braggingly. "I'm going to be the Pirate King."

Sora and Roxas had just reached the edge of the Outlands. Roxas had been doing really good about not hesitating or looking back too much, but there he stopped. After thinking for a moment, he sighed.

"This is it. There's no turning back after this, is there?" Roxas realized quietly.

_Mm-hmm_, Sora agreed from inside him, adding as if he were likening it to the adventure of a lifetime, _Come on, let's go!_

Roxas took a deep breath and stepped into the forest. Nothing seemed to change. He looked around for a second and then wondered, "What now?"

_Uh, walk in a straight line. Maybe something will come to you._

Walking along for a little while didn't seem to help any. "Nothing's coming to me," he commented, stopping again.

_Would you just stop talking to me? You seem like an idiot talking out loud to yourself like that._

"Well, you're talking back. What am I supposed to do?"

_Think, Roxas; think. We can hear each other when we just think. No one else is hearing me but you. The entire world could hear you._

_Oh, okay,_ Roxas replied in his head. He looked around for a while again, realized he couldn't see the edge of the forest anymore, and asked, _Which way was straight again?_

_I dunno,_ Sora admitted, _just choose a direction._

Roxas randomly chose to walk a little to the left of the direction he was facing. He only took a couple steps before he was stopped in his tracks by a little voice ordering in a sing-song tone, "Follow the yellow brick road." Suddenly, a pathway appeared directly behind him.

_Did you hear that?_ Roxas questioned.

_Hear what?_ Sora replied.

Suspiciously, Roxas ignored the voice, continuing forward, but it repeated itself, more urgently. A large neon sign appeared in front of him flashing, "GO BACK!" _That,_ Roxas thought.

_I didn't hear anything,_ Sora responded, confused.

_What about the sign? Do you see the sign?_ Roxas gestured directly in front of him.

_No._

The voice repeated itself again, this time emphasizing each word to make sure it was understood, "Follow…the…yellow brick…road."

"Fine!" Roxas shouted, "I'll follow the yellow brick road!" He turned around and walked toward the pathway, asking Sora, _This is yellow isn't it?_

_Is what yellow?_ Sora inquired.

_The road I'm on._

_What road?_

_What do you mean I'm not on a road? Can't you see it?_ Roxas was getting frustrated.

_No,_ Sora answered shortly.

_Oh…maybe something's coming to me._

They followed the road for a very long time as it wound around through the forest. Sometimes it was wide, and sometimes it was very narrow. It was narrow then, and Roxas was following the twisting path exactly, which was starting to make Sora sick.

_Are we going in circles? _Sora questioned nauseously. Roxas stopped walking, slightly startled to have heard Sora's voice again. Since walking on the road was the same as walking on a flat balance beam, he almost fell over as he tried to keep himself from stepping off the road.

As soon as he caught himself, Roxas replied, _I don't think so. I'm just following the road._ He looked out ahead and noticed that it curved to the right for a while and then curved back, taking probably fifty feet to get ten feet in front of him. _Should I not? _Sora didn't answer; though, Roxas could tell he probably was shrugging.

Cautiously, Roxas stepped off the path to just walk straight across. Halfway there the entire path disappeared, and he found himself surrounded by wolves. He glanced around at all of them once, just to make sure he knew what he was up against. The pathway appeared again back where he had come from as the voice started repeating in his head, "Follow the yellow brick road." So he would have to walk all the way around. Roxas formed a key in his hands to get past the wolves, and it was easy for him to clear a path to the yellow brick road. He wouldn't dare question it again.

"Well isn't that something," a cloaked figure commented to some random camera man. "He's passed, what, three tests now. The forest is mostly accepting his presence, he's receiving our orders, and he can muster a keyblade…" He chuckled slightly. "Could this really be Roxas returning to us? Send him another test."

"But what Sir?" The random camera man asked.

The cloaked figure pondered for a while before questioning, "What other color of road do you have?"

"Any you want, I believe," the man responded, slightly confused. He brought up a list of colors, and the cloaked figure pointed to a grey one near the center of the screen. "Grey? May I inquire as to why you chose that one Sir?" The man asked curiously.

"Roxas is slightly color blind. He can't see the color yellow," the cloaked figure explained. "If this is the true him, he shouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two roads."

Roxas stood at the crossroads, completely lost as to what to do next. Both roads looked exactly the same. They were the same size, the same color, the same smoothness. Was there even anything different about them? Would both paths lead to the same place? Left, or right; left, or right? He couldn't figure it out. Afraid that Sora would ask him why he was wasting time again, he just chose one. Right. A second later, a shock zapped through his arm and the voice came back.

"This is not the yellow brick road. Please follow the yellow brick road."

He took a step back, frustrated, and followed the left path instead. That continued for a while, until he came across another split in the road. Remembering that it had been on the left side the time before, Roxas tried that direction first, since both ways still looked exactly the same. This time, the shock came in his other arm as the voice repeated, "This is not the yellow brick road. Please follow the yellow brick road."

Roxas fell to his knees and shouted into the air, "Why are you doing this to me? I am so sick of walking around in this stupid forest, going nowhere and getting shocked! I'm lost. Completely and thoroughly lost. Where am I?"

No one answered him, though. Only the voice continued to order, "Please get back on the yellow brick road."

After a second, Roxas stood back to his feet and followed the right path. The next intersection he came to had six paths to choose from and a small well in the center. Roxas had no idea which to choose first—and he knew he'd likely have to try every one of them before he got the right one—so he walked around the well several times until he was sure he couldn't remember which direction he'd come from. Then, he just stopped at a random pathway and chose it. He walked toward it, and the voice didn't object. He got on it, and the voice still let him continue.

Roxas laughed to himself in disbelief. _Oh my, I actually got the right one,_ he thought.

Sora answered for the first time in a while, _I only wish I knew what was going on with you._

A moment later, Roxas spotted the castle through the trees. Completely abandoning the yellow brick road, that still wanted him to wind around for a while, Roxas just ran straight toward it. He was thankful to see something other than trees, and happy that he'd at least accomplished part of his job. The voice started telling him to get back on the road, but he ignored it. Another wolf tried to get him to comply, but he simply sliced it down with his keyblade. He was on the home stretch. Nothing was going to stop him now!

Not even Sora could stop him as he started shouting, _Whoa, wait a second. Slow down Roxas…Stop, stop…Stop! Stop! STOP!_ Roxas still wasn't listening. _Look out!_ Sora exclaimed in the last second, and Roxas slid to a stop flailing his arms wildly to make sure he didn't go over the edge of a steep cliff that dropped off into this giant, neon green hole. Sora sighed with relief. That had been a close one.

Of all the things for Roxas to catch, it was the sigh that grabbed his attention, and he demanded, _Oh, so you knew this was here? Nice of you to tell me._

_I did tell you, you goof. Didn't you hear all the STOP-ing?_ Sora replied, frustrated.

_Huh?_ Roxas asked, and Sora just sighed again. After a second, Roxas questioned, _Well, you knew it was here. How do we get around it?_

_That's easy. Just use your key._

Roxas formed his key in his hand and looked at it for a while before pointing it at the building. A moment later a pathway formed from where he was standing to the door of the castle. Roxas smiled, put the key away, and unsurely took the first step onto the path. He was really there now.

"Hmm," the cloaked figure mumbled to himself, "the kid made it." He threw the hood off, revealing his shoulder-length, pink hair, as he commented, "Have someone be sure to greet him properly. I have other things I need to attend to."


	14. Chapter 13 Are those flowers I smell

I never thought I'd ever have to say this, but a great big thanks to the creators of...Spongebob.

* * *

By the time Nori came out of his room, Roxas had left already. Dusty and Becca were trying to cheer Warren up. Becca was tickling his sides, and he smiled a little at her trying so hard to make him laugh. She didn't think it was working, but in reality, he had to force himself to not laugh. Of course, he would be laughing because she actually thought he was ticklish, but if he laughed, then she would really think he was ticklish. Then, she would never stop.

Dusty also got involved, sitting on Warren's lap and taunting him. Warren ignored it all, simply whispering, "You're ticklish too, aren't you?"

She argued, "I am not," but halfway through the 'not,' talking turned into screaming. She jumped off his lap insisting, "I am not ticklish."

"Then why did that work so well?" He asked, smiling widely.

"My dad's the only person that can tickle me," Dusty began to explain.

"Mm-hmm," Warren agreed sarcastically.

"It's true! But you tickle just like my dad."

"Right."

"Really, you grab people's ribs and squeeze so much it hurts. That's why I moved."

"Sure, okay."

Becca pointed at Dusty, laughing silently and lipping, "Ha-ha, he tickled you."

Dusty rolled her eyes, putting one hand on her hip, but it was Warren that got Becca back for her. He reached over and squeezed just above her knee. She giggled, and squirmed, and ran to stand over by Dusty. Nori casually hopped up onto the television where Sora had been sitting before to enjoy the argument. Apparently, that was a popular place to sit. He didn't get to stay there for long. A moment later, Chiyo was beckoning again. She took hold of his hands, leaned against his legs, and kissed him gently.

"You changed clothes," she noted softly. "That's not fair. I've been wearing the same clothes for a whole year."

"No wonder you smell a little funny," Nori joked.

Chiyo, offended, shoved him backwards, and he fell off the television, landing behind it in a mess of wires. Warren instantly left the tickle-fest, running to the television to order, "Don't hurt the gaming system."

"Fine," Nori agreed as he stood back up and untangled himself from the cords, "I'll take you to Kairi's and see if we can get you a change of clothes."

"Kairi?" She repeated, seeming slightly jealous that Nori even knew another female.

"Yes," Nori agreed, grabbing her hand and walking toward the door. "**Sora's** girlfriend is close to your size."

The pirate gang still hadn't gotten off the Mysterious Island. Luffy decided to call the ship with Tiara's phone and just have the ship come pick them up. The ship hadn't shown up, though, and Marluxia had come back.

Luffy announced his presence, exclaiming, "Hey look! The girly-man's back!"

Everyone immediately stood up from their various seats on the beach.

Marluxia wasn't nearly as frustrated by what Luffy had said as he had been the last time, simply commenting, "Oh, were you waiting for me? I had some things to care for…sorry to make you wait, but since you were looking forward to it, now it is your turn to die." He formed his gigantic scythe in his hand and stood in preparation for the fight.

Everyone except for Wesley got horrified looks on their faces. Wesley just laughed. Eventually, he calmed down enough to explain, "You think you can kill us? All of us? Ha. Now Mister Six Sticks, him I have a deep, dreaded respect for, but you…" Wesley had walked over to behind Marluxia and sniffed at his shoulder. "Are those flowers I smell?" He asked, skipping away to some place Marluxia couldn't reach him with the scythe. "Hey guys, the girly-guy left us here to go prancing around in his rose garden. He had to water the snapdragons; they were looking a little sickly."

Marluxia scowled and headed toward Wesley angrily saying, "I'll kill you first." Wesley allowed the slightest look of fear to cross his face when he realized he didn't have his sword anymore, but he just smiled again and kept up with the mocking.

"What's that kid trying to do?" Zoro asked quietly.

"Dunno," Luffy replied, clapping his feet together happily, "but it's funny."

Zoro and Nami both slapped him on either side of his head and stood up to help Wesley. Wesley was doing pretty good at dodging all the swipes Marluxia was making at him. He got one slice across the arm and winced, but it really only made him fight harder. When he saw Nami and Zoro coming to help him out, he held a hand out to stop them.

They stopped, Zoro asking again, "What's he doing?"

On the next swipe, Wesley was able to grab the handle of the scythe, getting another slice in his arm from the angle he grabbed it at, but surprising Marluxia enough that Wesley could rip it from his hands.

"What now?" Wesley demanded with an attitude as he broke the cumbersome thing in two. Then, confident because he had two weapons—a stick and half a scythe—and Marluxia had none, he positioned himself as if he might attack Marluxia.

Marluxia smirked a bit, noting, "I must admit I didn't expect that much from you, but don't act like it's over already." A second later, the two halves of the scythe in Wesley's hands disappeared, and it reappeared in Marluxia's hand, once again whole.

Looking so shocked that he wanted to cry, Wesley ran past Marluxia stating, "I hate you and your stupid black magic. I can't fight magic; all I have is a sword, and right now, I don't even have one of those. How am I supposed to fight you like that?"

"You're not," Marluxia responded, chasing after him, "you're just supposed to die."

Wesley led Marluxia right past Nami and Zoro. Nami prepared to protect herself from any of his attacks that might come her way, but Zoro put a hand against her chest to stop her. He walked by without hurting either of them, entirely focused on destroying Wesley.

After watching the fight between Wesley and Marluxia recommence, Zoro said, "I think I know what he's doing. Just wait another minute."

Wesley got slashed across the face and fell to the ground. He thought for a second, _Damn that thing hurts,_ before trying to climb back to his feet. However, he only made it to his knees before Marluxia pounded him on the back of the head with his fist. Taking a foot in his gut collapsed him to the ground again. Marluxia's back was to the crew, though, and to Wesley, that was all that mattered. Zoro signaled silently to Nami, meaning, _now it's time._ The two of them quietly crept up behind Marluxia. When Wesley didn't get up that time, Marluxia began to turn around. Seeing this, and his two friends coming toward them, Wesley forced himself up again.

"Hey wait," Wesley called just before Marluxia would have noticed Nami and Zoro. Marluxia immediately turned back to Wesley to finish him off. Wesley flinched in expectation of the last blow. He wanted to cry but knew he couldn't. It was almost over…almost over. One last punch in the face knocked him to the ground.

Then a voice came from a foot behind Marluxia. "Yoo-hoo! La-la-la-la-la-la-la," is kind of what the random noises sounded like.

When Marluxia turned to unload on Zoro, though, Nami disappeared to the new behind him. Before he could even hit Zoro, Nami slammed him on the back of the head with her staff that she kept hidden in three pieces in her bosom. Marluxia fell to the ground, unconscious.

"What was with the funny face and the strange noises?" Nami asked Zoro immediately.

"I don't know, I guess I had a Luffy moment. We've spent way too much time with him," Zoro replied walking over to where Wesley was laying. Picking Wesley up off the ground under his arms, Zoro questioned, "Is that what you meant by distracting is what you're best at?"

Wesley didn't answer; he just lay there, so Zoro continued, "If you ever decide to do that again, never go into it weaponless."

"Thanks for letting her borrow some of your clothes Kairi," Nori mentioned while the two of them waited for Chiyo to finish changing.

"She seems like a nice girl," Kairi replied.

Nori smiled.

Understanding the meaning of that face, Naminé popped out and wondered, "You like her, don't you?"

"Yeah," Nori sighed, but then he realized what tone had been in Naminé's voice. "Is that jealousy Naminé? God, it's Chiyo! You've always known I like Chiyo."

"Yeah, but she's always been dead before. Now that she's around…" She scooted a little closer to Nori.

"Now that she's around?" Nori interrupted questioningly, "Now I'm even more hers, not a cause for dispute."

Naminé came even closer. "But don't you like me too?"

Nori backed away cautiously. "Yes…I mean no," he tripped over something as he continued, "I mean…Roxas."

"What about Roxas?" Naminé questioned, stopping at the sound of his name.

"I mean, don't you like him…more than me?...And you waited a whole, like what, ten minutes after he was gone before you started trying to find a replacement. Let's not start this yet. Y'know there's still a chance he'll be coming back."

"Gone? What do you mean gone? Where did he go, and why wouldn't he be coming back?" Naminé was suddenly worried.

"Everyone decided he should go to the Castle That Never Was," Nori explained cautiously, slightly concerned by her reaction.

"What?" She demanded furiously, "Alone?"

"No," Nori assured. "Sora went with him."

"Sora? Stupid…all of you are stupid. Sora can't go there."

"But he couldn't go alone."

"I should have gone with him," Naminé insisted. "If he even had to go at all, it should have been me with him because I've been there. You do know that if they find out Sora is there with him they'll both be dead."

"Okay Kairi, I'm finished," Chiyo stated, coming out of the room as she finished towel drying her hair. She stopped short when she saw a blonde girl she didn't recognize—Naminé—straddling Nori, holding his shoulders. _That was an awkward way to get caught, _Nori thought for a second.

Naminé climbed off of Nori, slowly fading back into Kairi, when she noticed the look of horror on Chiyo's face. "Sorry," she mumbled as Chiyo stormed over to Nori and ripped him to his feet.

"Me and MY boyfriend are going to OUR home," Chiyo said so loud she was almost shouting.

"What is with all this jealous, overprotective, crap?" Nori demanded, pushing her hand off of his wrist. "You don't even know what just happened."

"It's obvious, isn't it?" She commented softly, tugging on Nori's shirt.

"No, it's not obvious." Nori pushed her hand off again. "She was concerned about—you know what, I don't even have to explain myself to you. You should trust me."

"Come on, let's go. I don't want to argue here." Chiyo was still speaking very quietly.

"Why don't you trust me? What did I ever do?"

"Nothing Nori," she whispered, seeming a little confused, and she tried to grab his hand again.

"But you won't let me go anywhere—you won't let me do anything—without your ever protective eye keeping me within your ever so restrictive reach. Would you just stop touching me? For once, I'd like a moment **without** Chiyo! Just me, by myself, to do something for me."

Chiyo immediately dropped his hand, on the verge of tears. "But…but it's been so long Nori."

"Maybe it's been too long Chiyo because you're not the same Chiyo. I keep seeing hints of you flashing up, and hoping that it'll just take time for you to come back, but you're not coming. You weren't ever like this before, Chiyo, and it's frustrating me because I can't keep loving a memory if that's all there'll ever be. And that's all you are…just a memory."

Chiyo just stared in shock, and Naminé tried to comfort him, putting a soft hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "I said don't touch me," Nori repeated, brushing Naminé's hand away as well. He walked to the door, threw it open, and stated, "I'm leaving."

When the door slammed shut again, the two girls looked to each other and both asked, "Is he usually like that?" Chiyo continued sadly, "He never used to be."

"He's been going through some hard times these last few days," Naminé explained, "but I never thought he'd yell at you."

"Well it is your fault he yelled at me," Chiyo muttered.

"My fault?" Naminé seemed a little offended. "Granted, I like Nori, but that's apparently a common problem for him. I have my own steady relationship, and yes, I like to toy around with Nori sometimes, but what you saw is not how I toy with people. What you saw was me freaking out because my real boyfriend got sent away to die."

"Honestly?" Chiyo asked skeptically.

"Honestly…if I really wanted Nori, I would have erased his memories of you a long time ago."

"Chiyo frowned. "Is that supposed to be symbolic for something?"

"No."

"So you can really erase memories? Like an entire year of being in prison?"

"Are you talking abut yourself?" Naminé realized.

"Yeah," Chiyo sighed, "'cuz it obviously changed me…for the worse. I felt it, and Nori sees it, even though I'd hoped he wouldn't. I think…if I don't remember, it'll fix me."

Naminé bit a finger in thought. "There's a possibility. Are you sure you don't want to remember any of it?"

"Yeah…well no. I want to remember Nori crying at the beginning, and there was this one thing I overheard one day…"

Nori didn't go home right away. Both girls knew where he lived and he knew they'd go looking for him there. So he went to the Pig and Whistle instead. He went up to the bar and sat down with a sigh. While he waited for the bartender to come over, he glanced out the window at the thunderstorm developing. Why was the weather describing him so perfectly lately?

"Would you like your beer, as usual Anime Kid?" The bartender asked. He'd always called Nori "Anime Kid," and eventually it started to grow on him.

"No," Nori replied sadly. "You still have that coffee machine, don't you?"

"Yes sir."

"I'll take a rasberry mocha frapaccino and a huge bowl of ice cream."

The bartender left and a moment later returned with a giant bowl of ice cream for Nori. "No alcohol at all?" He inquired as he slid the bowl across the counter, "Why would you come to a bar and not get alcohol?"

"Eh," Nori complained slightly. "Beer's a celebration drink. I'm not in the mood for celebrating."

"What's wrong? I've never seen you here if you weren't celebrating something…or trying to calm down that Warren kid."

Nori just moaned "Eh," again and stirred his ice cream around. "I guess it's my own fault."

The bartender left to make the frapaccino and came back a while later. He pulled a coaster from under the counter and slid the drink across to Nori. "Not eating that either?" He asked, noticing that Nori had only taken one bite of the ice cream, and was rather scooping a bunch into the spoon and then dumping it back into the bowl. "Well, I hope you get to feeling better."

A second later Puss in Boots joined Nori at the counter and ordered a warm milk. He was slumped over, head resting in his hands, with an exhausted look on his face.

Curiously, Nori grumbled, "What's gotten you down?"

The orange cat sighed, answering in his Spanish accent, "My mother, she is sick. And my father lives off the garbage! And I have a litter of brothers...and there is no money…and the king, he says, 'You will pay your taxes!'" He sighed again.

"Worried about too many people?" Nori asked in understanding.

"Si," Puss replied.

"Yeah, me too."

After another little while, Spongebob sat down at the bar on the other side of Nori, ordering a club soda. Puss inquired of him, "And what is your problem large seafood-like man?"

"My friend's being a jerk," Spongebob responded in tears. "There's something that's making him not act like himself, and he won't believe me that he needs help."

"Dido," Nori mumbled, by that point actually having finished most of the ice cream.

Roxas cautiously looked around at the entryway to the castle. The walls were white…blindingly white. He was so surprised to see no one there. With all of the Organization, and the Heartless, and Lionel, and all his servants, wouldn't you expect to see someone when you first walked in? Unsure of what to do, Roxas just started wandering. He'd end up somewhere, somehow. Following his nose led him to a bedroom, which he felt strangely inclined to enter.

So he did, getting just the slightest protest of, _What are you doing?_ from Sora. Roxas shrugged. How could he answer that question for Sora if he couldn't even answer it for himself? He wandered over to a desk at the back and found a picture in a frame of a girl leaning back against the chest of a red haired man. Those green eyes and the upside down teardrops under them…where did Roxas recognize that man from? Roxas fell back onto the bed, bringing the picture with him, to think. If he could only remember something…

Roxas woke up with a start to the sound of a girl's voice exclaiming, "Rock 'em, Sock 'em! You're back!" He sat up quickly, seeing the girl in the photo, and didn't get a chance to do anything before the girl had flung her arms around him in a huge hug.

A blonde with a mullet muttered a small, "Squeak-oo," and Roxas looked at him with a questioning expression. Why would someone from Organization XIII squeak randomly like that?

_Demyx is bizarre,_ Sora informed him, thinking a little information might be helpful.

The girl pulled away from Roxas then, looking at his face like she'd expected him to say something in return. Cocking her head to the side, she asked, "Is everything okay?"

"Uh…" Roxas thought, looking back and forth between the two Nobodies. "Yeah."

A moment of slightly awkward silence passed, and then a third person appeared in the doorway, demanding, "What are you two doing in my room without me?"

Recognizing the voice, Roxas jumped to his feet exclaiming, "Axel!"

The face of the man in the doorway softened a little to hear and see his old friend. "Roxas," the redhead began, "you finally remember me?"

"Yup," Roxas replied happily, excited that he really did remember. He knew he had known the guy in the picture from somewhere.

"What are you doing in my room?"

"This is your room?" Almost came out of Roxas's mouth, but he stopped himself, instead answering, "I figured you guys would be here, if anywhere."

The girl smiled at that. Axel looked a little suspicious about the way Roxas was acting, and his mysterious appearance, but he still joined the threesome in his room to hang out.


	15. Chapter 14 No, I remember

Yay! People are really gonna be happy now that Roxas is back in the Castle...for a while at least. I'd like to give a special thanks to one of my best friends, Becca, for creating the group of pirates in Dr. Schmitty's office.

* * *

Roxas was finally starting to loosen up. After a couple minutes, he had learned to call all three of them by their names: Demyx, Katex, and of course Axel. Katex and Demyx laughed a lot, and Roxas knew he should be laughing too. After all, he had always been a laughy person, and they still expected him to act like he normally did. He was obviously not acting normal, and he could tell that Axel was noticing. Axel kept staring at him interrogatingly, as if he were trying to figure out what was wrong. 

When the questions were less about himself, and more of just stories about their past experiences, Roxas was able to smile, sometimes even laughing. It was hard, though, because, while he was trying to just have fun and act normal, he was also busily memorizing as many facts about the members of Organization XIII as he could.

"You know what this reminds me of?" Katex brought up, laughing. "That time when Vexen's crazy experiment blew up on us, and Axel and I switched bodies."

_Note to self: _Roxas thought, _Vexen's experiments are dangerous._

"That was funny," Demyx announced, hardly able to hold in his amusement.

"No it was not," Axel countered. "I suddenly had these strange additions to my body," he gestured to where a girl's breasts would be, "and every time I'd bump against them, she'd slap me. I never knew how strong my hands were until she was slapping me with them."

"That was the funny part," Demyx stated. Axel's eyes filled with rage, and he tackled Demyx from across the room. Axel had started to form a little bit of fire too, but Demyx drenched both Axel and himself in water, ending the small fight. Everyone was laughing—that was the first time for Roxas since he got there—and Axel glared over at Katex before sitting back next to Roxas on the bed.

The next time Roxas laughed was when a small silence arrived, and Demyx took the chance to mention to Roxas, "You know what I just thought of? That time on your birthday when we couldn't find a cake anywhere, so I blindfolded you, and took you down to the Underworld, and I didn't take the blindfold off until we'd snuck up behind Hades. And I tried to make you blow out his hair like it was a candle."

By that time, Roxas had broke out in laughter, but Axel interrupted, "Wait, I don't remember this."

"That's 'cuz you weren't there," Katex giggled.

"It didn't work, did it?"

"Nope," Demyx answered. "Roxas got to laughing too hard and could hardly get out one puff before Hades heard us. Then he got really mad, and his hair got even bigger, so I had to dump some water on his head and make a run for it before he killed us."

"What made you think of that?" Roxas questioned as soon as he could breathe again.

"Isn't it about time for your birthday again?"

Roxas smiled. How could he not even remember that?

Then, a while later, the dreaded question came up. "So, what was it like, having a heart an' all?" Demyx wondered.

Roxas's mind went blank. He stared at them, mouth gaping. When he noticed they were all staring at him in expectation, he smiled. Sora's voice came into his mind, _You have to think faster Roxas. What was it like to not have a heart?_

_I don't remember, _Roxas responded in his mind.

_It was just this morning, goof. Before we came here, we were separate. How was that different from now?_

"I passed out," Roxas said, accidentally out loud.

"What?" Axel asked.

Demyx tried to make it an answer, though, exclaiming, "So that's why you'd never hear me when I was talking to you!"

"What? That time fighting Sora in the Underworld? No, I heard you. I passed out when we separated, Sora and I."

"You separated then?" Axel questioned, as if he were noting it in a list of symptoms to why Roxas was acting weird.

"Yeah, duh," Roxas replied, slightly lying. "Why would I bring him back here?"

Demyx threw his hands up. "Wait, wait! Back up. You heard me, but you completely ignored me? What were you doing?"

Roxas thought back to that moment, once again unable to come up with an answer on his own. _What should I say? _He asked Sora.

_You're the one who didn't talk to him, _Sora replied, _It's not like _I_ was forcing you. Just tell the truth._

"The truth…I had…no clue who you were," Roxas answered.

Demyx looked surprised, but Axel broke in, "I knew it!" When Demyx and Katex looked like they wanted an explanation, he continued, "You didn't know that? How many times have I told you, Roxas doesn't remember us? Got it memorized now?"

Roxas tried to protest, insisting that he remembered his three friends, but they were all being louder than him. "But he remembers us just fine now, doesn't he? Don't you Roxas?" Katex countered.

Roxas was still shaking his head and mumbling, "No." Then, it registered what she's said, and he assured, "Yeah, I remember now…Axel, Demyx, Katex."

"And how long did it take you to figure that out Roxas?" Axel demanded. "Thirty minutes? At least ten, just to relearn our names."

"I knew your name the instant you walked through the door," Roxas replied, offended—or at least trying to be offended. He was kind of trying to act like the way he had seen Demyx react when he was accused of having no heart. It seemed like a good reaction.

Axel took the picture that was still resting in Roxas's lap. "How long would it have taken you to find that on the back of this picture?" He opened the frame and removed the picture, reading from the back of it, "To Axel, from Katex."

Sad that he couldn't convince Axel, Roxas shook his head and whispered, "No…I remember…I remember you Axel."

Crossing his arms across his chest, Axel ordered, "Tell me something you remember about me."

Roxas thought for a moment before responding, "We fought each other in the basement, and I won." He emphasized the winning part.

Axel's shoulders slumped. "Was that the first thing you could think of?"

"Well, you beat me in 'the struggle' in Twilight Town."

"Enough with the fighting already. Can't you remember anything better? Like…eating sea-salt ice cream on top of the clock tower?"

"Oh, that stuff is good," Roxas agreed. He was really excited because he was actually remembering things, but then it dawned on him. Maybe he'd never forgotten Axel except…"Now was that before or after the fight?"

Axel was about ready to answer in a really frustrated manner when Demyx interrupted, "Is everything you know about Twilight Town? What can you remember about me?"

Another moment of silence filled the group as Roxas thought about how to answer. "There was this one time," he began cautiously, "in the Underworld, when we tried to blow out Hades' hair…"

"I just told you that," Demyx reminded.

"I know," Roxas mentioned lightheartedly, "that was a joke." He added to himself, _Something meant to kill time._ He wasn't remembering Demyx, though.

Right before the silence of Roxas's thought would have become awkward again, a voice screamed through the air, "All members, please report to the meeting room…Roxas, please report to the meeting room."

Demyx and Katex climbed to their feet and left the room—Katex sliding away on some sort of surf board. Roxas went to follow, but Axel stopped him in the doorway.

"You don't really remember, do you Roxas?" He questioned.

"Yes I do," Roxas countered, looking back to his red haired friend. "I swear Axel, I remember you."

After a moment, Axel smiled like he had an idea. "Then, you lead the way to the meeting room."

"Okay," Roxas agreed, following in the direction Demyx and Katex had gone.

Axel grabbed him by the back of his shirt, turning him the opposite direction, and correcting, "We'll go this way."

"But—" Roxas pointed to their two friends.

"Yes, this is the long way, but we'll get there nonetheless…that is, if you remember."

Roxas took a deep breath, let it out, and walked. He had no idea where to. He just hoped he'd find the right place by chance. He didn't.

Ten minutes later the voice roared through the halls again, "Roxas and Axel, report to the meeting room NOW!"

Axel sighed, rolling his eyes, and brought Roxas to the meeting room.

"Whoa! Doctor Schmitty, who's this? It's like Drake's identical twin!" A young lady exclaimed, looking down at the sleeping Wesley and then to her friend who really did look almost exactly the same.

Schmitty glanced up from a red haired girl's sliced arm that he was bandaging together. "Oh that's Wesley…you know, my infamous friend." He quickly tied a knot in the bandage, which made the girl wince slightly. "I've always been perplexed by the similarities in their appearance. They're not related in the slightest."

Drake wandered over to see his look-alike, and when Schmitty finished working on the girl, the two of them went over as well. Schmitty sighed, "I hardly ever see him when he's not unconscious."

"What happened this time?" The lady who noticed him at first asked.

Schmitty shrugged and then pointed over to the corner, "Those three brought him in. Apparently, my name was the only thing he said before he passed out."

Everyone else looked to the corner where two anime boys slept, leaning back to back on each other, and one anime girl sat at a desk, focusing on a map.

Drake looked back to Wesley before commenting, "Well, they're not too helpful, are they?"

"I heard he was being chased by Roronoa Zoro," the redhead whispered.

"Sacre bleu!" Exclaimed a dark haired girl from a chair in another corner. Everyone had heard of him before, and a fear filled them all.

"Chased?" Drake wondered, "Do you think he's still following him? What if he comes here looking for him?"

"We'll definitely have to be prepared to defend ourselves," the redhead decided, already drawing her sword.

A moan came from one of the two sleeping boys. "So much noise," he complained, stretching and yawning, "Can't you see we're trying to sleep?" Then, he opened his eyes and saw the sword. He was instantly to his feet, dropping a hand on one of his three hilts and letting the other sleeper fall to the floor. "Is there danger somewhere?"

The other sleeper woke for a second, but was quickly sleeping again, groping around for a while for some sort of pillow before convincing himself that the floor was comfy enough. The first girl explained, "Phoenix just said that Roronoa Zoro could show up here any minute. That famous pirate hunter…here…not good."

The man's face lost all excitement as he replied, "Yeah, that wouldn't be good, would it?"

Drake noticed that there was no sense of fear at all, so he questioned, "Ye do know who he is, don't ye? Ye've heard of 'im before?"

The man sat down casually in a chair to think. "Yes, I do believe I've heard the name a time or two."

"And you're not afraid that he might show up here?" The redhead—Phoenix—inquired, not seeming too frightened herself.

"Not concerned in the slightest, no," the man answered, leaning back in the chair with his arms behind his neck. "Why would he show up here, of all places?" Then, he added in his mind, _It's only the most famous pirate hospital. Why would I want an injured pirate when I could fight a live one?_

"Because he's chasing Wesley," the first girl explained again.

A small smile crossed the man's face. "Chasing Wesley? Is that really what you think? I wouldn't do that…no it's worse than that. The Organization is after Wesley."

"Organization XIII?" Schmitty asked in shock.

"You're Roronoa Zoro!" Drake realized, having been the only one to catch that part.

Everyone else looked to Drake, and then to the man in the chair, exclaiming as well, "You're Roronoa Zoro?"

Zoro sighed, "Don't any of you know I don't hunt pirates anymore? I am a pirate…a Straw Hat pirate."

Drake glanced over to Luffy who was still sleeping and wondered, "As in, that's your captain?"

"Uh…yep. We met up with Wesley when we were breaking into Lionel's castle, and he was breaking out. Figured you'd like to know we're working together." After everyone's expressions relaxed, he added, "Though I'd still like to fight him, just once, for the experience. I've heard he's pretty good."

"With a sword?" Schmitty asked just to be sure he'd understood. "Aye, he's fast, even in this condition. The instant he wakes up, he'll be able to beat any one of us."

"That's surprising…a bit," Zoro mentioned thoughtfully. "He lost so easily when we were fighting Organization XIII."

"He lost? Or he lost focus?" Schmitty demanded. "He's rather easy to distract considering he's spent his entire life distracting others. What exactly happened?"

"Well, yes, I suppose he was distracted…but I still don't know."

"We'll test him then," Schmitty suggested.

"What?" His friends questioned in shock, Phoenix continuing, "You're proposing that he fight Wesley?"

"Why not?" Schmitty asked. "He'll handle it fine. And not just Zoro…all of you."

"You certainly have confidence in your friend," Drake noted, slightly sarcastic.

Recognizing everyone's doubt, Schmitty replied, "None of you have ever seen him fight."

Wesley could hear everyone talking around him. He couldn't understand what they were saying, but slowly he opened his eyes with a moan. The first thing he saw was a saber soaring down toward his head. Quickly—remembering that he'd lost his sword—he reached behind him to grab one of Zoro's hilts. He definitely had enough to share. He held the sword with two hands to block the attack, noticing for the first time that they weren't swords at all. They were katanas.

Looking up, curiously wondering who was attacking him, Wesley saw himself on the other end of the saber. Shocked for a second, he almost missed a second attack coming from another of Zoro's katanas. He quickly moved his weapon to deflect Zoro's blow, then took Zoro's last katana to stop his twin from making an advance.

"I thought you were on my side," Wesley stated to Zoro, sitting up in the bed. Then, he turned to his twin, "and who are you?"

"We ah your woorst nightmare," the French girl stated coming at him with a third sword. Wesley pushed both boys away from him and rolled to his feet to make fighting easier.

His twin continued, "And your task is to rescue your friend." He pointed to the corner where another girl was holding a knife at Schmitty's throat.

Wesley looked around to assess the situation. Besides the people already mentioned, a red haired girl stood halfway to Schmitty as a sort of last resort. Wesley knew—if this was really real—the dark haired girl would kill Schmitty before he finished the fight. Realizing he had no other option, Wesley grabbed a dagger from his waist and threw it at the girl. It hit the wall behind her, not even a centimeter above her head. She honestly looked very scared as she gasped, sighed, and collapsed to the floor.

"Mission accomplished," Wesley announced as Schmitty got away.

His twin glanced over for a second, slightly perturbed that the dagger had gotten so close to her head, but responded as if it hadn't bothered him at all, "Now we're just angry."

Wesley hopped off the bed, right between the three swordsmen who were trying to fight him, stating, "I don't feel like fighting today. Let's just—"

The saber slashed down toward him again, and he deflected the blow without even looking at the man attacking him. A second later, Wesley spun around and slammed his fist across the twin's face. The twin fell to the ground, shocked, as Wesley shouted, "Stop trying to kill me! I'm not in a good mood!"

Then he turned back to Zoro. "Have ye decided I'm worth enough money to turn me in?" He asked, holding his hands out as if they were in cuffs. "Go ahead. It's not like anyone else who ever offered to help me followed through with it. It was my mistake for trusting you in the first place."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Zoro broke in. "This was not my idea. Your friend over there wanted to show me how good you were with a sword. That's all." He pointed to Schmitty.

Wesley looked to Schmitty questioningly, and Schmitty responded with an embarrassed smile like it hadn't exactly turned out the way he'd hoped. Then, Wesley smiled too, but it was his mischievous smile.

"You wanna play with fire?" He inquired, implying he was willing to join the dangerous game. "I'll show you my best…though, being injured, it's not likely I'll be able to win." Holding both of Zoro's katanas up, he positioned himself in the fighting stance.

"It's not likely you'd win either way," Zoro bragged.

Slightly offended, Wesley attacked first, but it was easily defended by Zoro. "Don't be so sure of yourself," Wesley ordered. "You may be the best in the East, North, West, and South Seas, but the Caribbean is a whole different story."

"Is that so?" Zoro questioned, pushing Wesley away from himself.

"You tried so hard to deceive me into fighting hard. I'd best give you a run for your money," Wesley stated, boredly spinning the katana in circles in his hand as he waited for Zoro to make the next move. Zoro did charge Wesley, and they fought for a while.

Zoro was the one who eventually had to back out for a second, making the excuse, "I'm much better when I have all _three_ of my katanas."

"Are you?" Wesley asked mockingly. He stabbed the two katanas that he had in his hands into the floor, took a step back, and gestured in a way that meant _bring it on_, commenting, "I'll fight all three of you…barehanded." He was finally starting to feel like himself again.

The two others approached to also join the fight as Zoro grabbed his katanas and mentioned, "I heard you once fought an entire ship of Spaniards with your hands behind your back, but I never would have expected it was true…until you said that."

Wesley raised his eyebrows, mixing a bragging and questioning look that said, "Well you'll find out, won't you?" His twin shrugged from behind him. If he wanted to fight all three of them, Drake wasn't going to deny him that pleasure, so he slashed again with the saber.

Acting like he didn't know anything was going on, Wesley waited until the last second to do anything, but in the knick of time dodged to the side, immediately jumping over a slice from the dark haired girl. Even Zoro missed Wesley when he attacked with all three swords. A while later, Drake and the dark haired girl came at Wesley from opposite sides, and all Wesley had to do was take one step back in the last moment and hold out a foot to trip them. They both missed, jabbing their swords into the floor to avoid hitting one another.

While they were both stumbling, Wesley casually reached a hand to either side of him and pulled the two swords from the floor. He once again spun each weapon in a couple circles braggingly. Then he readied himself to fight Zoro once more with a smile.

Zoro commented, "You're just showing off."

"I thought that was what ye were askin' me ta do," Wesley joked. "And I only fought three Spaniards with me hands behind me back. There just happened to be no one else on the ship that wanted to fight me."

And so the fight continued, finally just Wesley at his max and Zoro at his max. After quite a long time of hard fighting, Zoro knocked Wesley's saber away. Wesley ran to get it. Since it was closer to Zoro than to him, Zoro won. Figuring he had a moment, Wesley stopped to catch his breath. Zoro gave him a small look that asked, "Are you tired already?"

"Told you…there's…no way…I'd win," Wesley stuttered through heavy breathing. "Who could possibly…defeat a man…who can direct an attack…with his mouth?"

"Don't give up yet kid," Zoro replied. "The battle's not over yet…and it's not so much how many swords you have as it is the skill with which you use those swords. I once defeated a man with six swords…and then, I was also defeated by a man with only a dagger smaller than the one at your waist."

Wesley laughed slightly and then prepared himself to fight again, this time with just his sword. "That would be an honorable story to be able to claim as your own."

Bravely, Wesley charged in. He was able to hold off all of Zoro's attacks with just his one sword, but that was what he was good at with the sword: defending himself. When he got a chance, he tried a little offensive move and actually sliced a cut across Zoro's leg. Zoro winced for a split-second, but it was all the time Wesley needed to slam Zoro against the wall and stab the sword into the wall next to his head.

"Well played," Wesley complimented, "but whenever one plays with fire, they will always be burned." Then, Wesley just walked away.

A few seconds later, Zoro pinned Wesley to the wall, noting, "Where I learned to fight, you never leave your opponent alive. You shoulda killed me when you got the chance."

Wesley looked straight into Zoro's eyes and responded, "I've never killed a man in my life. Why would I start with you who lost so unfortunately and had just gotten through saving my life twice?"

"Because that's what ends a match," Zoro answered.

Wesley smiled. "I grew up where fencing was an art and children fought each other to pass the time. Nobody won or lost, you all just stopped when it was time fer supper."

"Food!" Was suddenly shouted through the room by the sleeping boy in the straw hat, who had since woken up. "Did I hear food? I want meat!"

Zoro looked over to his simple minded friend with a sigh. Wesley took advantage of the distraction and slipped out of Zoro's reach, grabbing Drake's saber and running out the door. He stopped short when he saw a man just outside the door angrily walking toward the hospital. He had blue hair, an 'X' across the bridge of his nose, and he wore the same black cloak as everyone else Wesley had been running from.

Wesley sighed. He'd rather be going against his so-called friends that were trying to kill him. At least only one of them was magical. Zoro came running after Wesley, but when he saw Wesley nervously gaping at the approaching villain, he silently gestured the rest of the group over. They all arrived, and the dark haired girl gasped.

"Saix," escaped her mouth in a hush.

"How much do we know about him?" Zoro whispered.

There was a moment long silence as everyone thought. It was eventually filled by the dark haired girl explaining, "He fights with some sort of fantasized claymore. It's not so much the way the weapon looks as it is the way he uses it. He fights…almost kinda like Wesley."

Zoro sheathed his three katanas and tied them around the petrified Wesley, shoving him a little forward. "Go ahead Kid."

Wesley turned around, able to mutter, "Wha-? ME!"

"Yeah," Zoro replied. "You two are evenly balanced in technique."

"But the magic…" Wesley protested.

"Just because you don't understand it doesn't make it magic, Kid. You can beat him…with just one sword you would have beaten that girly pink one, and look, you have three."

"I can't use all three."

"Then don't," Drake answered, realizing the practicality of it. "Keep the third one as a backup in case you lose one."

Zoro turned Wesley back to face Saix, insisting, "Now go," because Saix was getting close enough that they couldn't spend more time planning.

Wesley stepped out into the street, seeming like his mind was completely void of all thought, but in reality it was racing with complaints. After all, he was the exhausted one, the injured one, the one who lost the last battle, the one who they promised to protect, the one who was afraid of Organization XIII…he could list a thousand more things, but that would do him no good. He would still have to fight. Closing his eyes, he began to clear his mind for the battle. All of his concentration would have to be devoted to defending himself from that claymore.

Saix walked up to Wesley, stopping a few feet away from his target. Looking at the blank expression on Wesley's face, he greeted, "So, seems your friends have finally decided to sacrifice you."

Wesley opened his eyes, looking up at the strange man who was a couple heads taller than him, and smirked. "Not exactly," he countered with a small chuckle as he drew two of Zoro's katanas from their sheathes.

Seeing that Wesley was prepared to put up a fight, Saix formed his own weapon. It kind of looked like a mixture between a backwards sword and a giant lollypop because of the way it got fatter at the circular end. Saix made the first attack. That was just his personality. Wesley caught the claymore in the intersection of his two katanas, but the force was powerful enough to push him backwards a few feet. Before Wesley had any time to adjust to the method of fighting, the next attack came…and then the next…and then the next. All he had time to do was deflect and back up, deflect and back up…over and over and over again.

Saix quickly realized that simply his power would not make it through Wesley's defense, so instead of slicing down at Wesley's head like he had before, he threw it down to Wesley's feet and backed away. A second later, the thing blew up in Wesley's face, throwing him to the ground and kicking up a cloud of dirt. Before Wesley could stand up, Saix appeared through the dust cloud with another one. He threw that one at the ground as well, giving Wesley less than a second to roll away from the explosion.

The force of it still hit his back, but there wasn't a moment to notice that. He had to immediately reach for the katana he'd dropped and stop another slash from another claymore that had mysteriously appeared. A battle like this seemed almost useless to Wesley, simply slowing down the time it takes to die, but he somehow found the strength to return to his feet between two strikes. The battle once again came down to Wesley standing there letting Saix hit the intersection of the swords, over and over and over again.

Just when Wesley thought he might give in under the force of the blows, an idea came to him. He knew he couldn't make an attack with a sword in his mouth like Zoro could, but he could probably just hold it there. Slowly, and gradually, he moved the sword from his left hand to his mouth, keeping his hand on the hilt for a couple blows to make sure it would work. It hurt his jaw…a lot, but if he put the other katana behind it, the force of the blow was lessened quite a bit. After waiting a second, he quickly drew the third katana and slashed at Saix's legs at the same time as Saix came down on the intersection point again.

Saix jumped back in surprise that he'd actually been hit. Wesley immediately dropped the third katana from his mouth and bit down on his hand for a second in pain. He didn't wait too long, though, so he wouldn't lose the advantage he'd just gained. Taking just one of the katanas, Wesley tackled Saix. Saix kicked Wesley off before he could be struck again, throwing another one of his explosive claymores at him, but Wesley dodged the explosion easily, coming at Saix from the back as he tried to stand up.

The blow had barely hit Saix when he whirled around and slashed Wesley across the arm with yet another claymore. It was Wesley's right arm, though, and Wesley was left handed, so Wesley got the chance to attack once more before he had to deflect again. Saix was starting to slow down, however, because the hits he'd received were beginning to weaken him. They fought on for a little while like that before Wesley got another idea. There was a large boulder to the side of them, and Wesley wanted to get on top of it.

He faced his back to it and then let Saix think he was winning again by letting himself be pushed towards the rock. When he finally got there, he jumped on top of it and then jumped off the back to hide behind it. Saix came around to the back looking for him, but Wesley wasn't there anymore. A second later, Wesley appeared behind Saix—who knows how he got there—but in his hand he held a grenade. He pulled the plug, stuffed it down Saix's cloak, and then scrambled to the other side of the rock to wait for the explosion.

He knew it was over when the people still standing in the doorway of the hospital began cheering. Nervously, and with eyes watering, he peeked back over the rock. When he saw nothing there, a horrified look came over Wesley's face as he demanded, "Where is he? I thought we couldn't die."


	16. Chapter 15 The revolution

This time I'd like extremely to thank the creators of Karate Kid, though, I don't want to tell you which character is going to be in it. That would ruin the surprise.

* * *

When nothing more was happening, Chiyo opened her eyes. "Is it done?" She questioned curiously.

"Not quite," Naminé replied. "That memory you asked me to keep…now there's no connection between it and any of your other memories that you still have. We'll have to create a connection if you ever want to reach it again."

"What memory?" Chiyo asked, having already forgotten it.

"This memory." Naminé smiled as she found the memory in Chiyo's mind and helped her to remember.

_The room was dark. Chiyo wasn't sure why she was in a dark room, but she was. She heard a voice coming from outside the room._

"_You shoulda seen it Dude. It was awesome. I just turned to Xemnas and said, 'Well you suck.' And the author just let me do it. Y'know, like I said somethin' I wasn't s'posed to, but the author didn't delete it or start over or anything. It was like I was writing my own story."_

Then the dark faded back out, and Naminé reappeared. "Now to create a connection. I'll have to give you one to start out with, but you could always change it later. The voice, that's Roxas, my boyfriend."

She had added the "my boyfriend" part to connect the memory to herself, but Chiyo recognized the name. "Is that the same Roxas that shares a body with Nori's friend?"

Naminé was surprised. "Yes…how do you know him?"

"I watched everyone make him leave this morning. He didn't seem too happy about it."

The expression on Naminé's face was suddenly gloomy. "Yeah," she sighed. "They shouldn't have sent him back there. They'll devour him, you know, and knowing these boys, they haven't the slightest clue how to plan an extraction."

"From the Castle That Never Was? That's in the forest, isn't it?"

"Yes…why?"

Chiyo smiled. "There was this old man that raised most of us kids back in Japan," she explained, deciding she wanted to leave the house. She started gathering her things and walked out the door, followed by Naminé, all the way continuing, "He was a good ol' grandpa, but he always tried to keep us from getting in trouble. Like if he ever caught us with chocolate he'd tell us these stories about creatures that lived in the forest and fed on children's blood, but the only thing they liked more was chocolate. They could smell it from miles away, and if they caught a whiff of the combination, they would leave the forest to attack us."

"Do creatures like that actually exist in the forest?" Naminé asked.

"None of us actually know. He talked about a lot of things that supposedly lived in the forest, but I do know for sure that he survived and returned from a quest into the forest, so if anyone would know, it would be him. He'll help us find a way to the castle, and then when Roxas needs our help, we can be there in a snap."

Naminé finally understood why Chiyo had left the house and commented, "Well we need to get to the boys' house quickly and tell them!"

She hurried off, leading the way to their house. When they arrived, she burst through the door announcing, "Hey everybody! Chiyo's got something to tell you."

"You guys went shopping and brought us all some pink tutus," Warren guess blandly.

"No," Naminé replied.

"She set the date and the wedding's tomorrow," came the next guess from Nehemiah.

"Yeah, right," Chiyo laughed sarcastically. "I know who can get us all to the Castle That Never Was."

Everyone listened intently as she explained again. After she told them her idea, they all decided it would be best if they waited for Nori to come back before they left. It was at least an hour before he wandered into the house. They had brought out a video game that slightly resembled playing an electric guitar. At first everyone was having fun and taking turns, but it quickly became apparent that Warren, Dusty, and Chiyo were the best. They took over and stopped letting other people play.

Chiyo and Warren were doing a duo when Nori finally showed up. They knew the words to the song, and everything, so it actually sounded right as they rocked out. He walked right up to Chiyo in the middle of the song and interrupted her.

"Chiyo, there's something I need to tell you," he began. He had practiced saying these two words so many times, but it still was hard for him to do it.

"Not right now," she replied. "I'm a little busy." She immediately returned to singing the song.

Nori actually smiled when he heard that. Sure it annoyed him when she ignored him, but that was something she would normally do. That's what he liked about her because every other girl in the world tried to hang off of him constantly and go skinny dipping. She had a life outside of him, was more interested in beating him at some contest than cuddling, and it took him eight years to get a kiss from her…well, story eight years. In real life, it was only one and a half, but she never kissed him in real life. Only in the story.

He sat down on the couch, contently watching her finally enjoying herself again. When the song was over, he announced, "Let's duel Chiyo. I want to beat you."

She laughed. "You'll never beat me at this Nori. You know you have no coordination."

"Ah, but I've been practicing for a whole year."

Warren added in a hush, "One song. He can beat anyone in the world at that song, but it's the only song he can play."

"Hey!" Nori complained.

"I know…I know, don't tell the company your secrets."

"That's not what I meant!"

"Whatever," Chiyo interrupted. "What's this song you can play?"

Nori flipped through the songs on the screen until he found the one he was looking for. "That one," he announced, selecting it.

Chiyo frowned at the title. "I've never even heard of it."

Vash recognized the song and mentioned mostly for himself, "That song came out a week after Chiyo died."

Nehemiah noted, "Well Nori's been absolutely obsessed with it since the second version of the game came out with that song on it. He played it nonstop for 36 hours…I hope that has nothing to do with Chiyo."

"Nope," Nori said just as it was about to start, "just like the song."

Then the song started. Chiyo could keep up for the first while, but yeah, it turned out to be too hard for her, so she just watched Nori make a fool of himself. He kind of looked like an idiot trying to rock out, especially since his hair was still light blue.

At the beginning, the whole song was just guitar, so Dusty curiously leaned over to Warren and whispered, "What's everybody's problem with this song? It rocks."

"For now," Warren replied casually, still leaning back on the couch. "Just wait until the guy starts singing about monkeys, dragons, ice cream, and underwear. It's really unbelievably random."

Nori made it halfway through the song. Chiyo had long given up on playing anything, and she just stood there laughing at Nori, trying to figure out what made him like the song so much. He had just gotten to the line that went, _Stop playing Mission Impossible with the guys in your bed. Instead let's have a water gun fight at night with pink underwear on our heads, _when Warren snuck up behind him and pulled his pants down.

Nori dropped the controller—which made the guitar moan and die—and grabbed at his pants embarrassedly, demanding, "What was **that** for?"

"Because you were being an immature jerk, show off," Warren replied, "and it's funny."

"Whatever," was all Nori could think of to say back as he pulled his pants back up.

"Plus, we were only playing the game while we were waiting for **you** to show up again. Now that you're finally here, Chiyo has something to tell you."

Curiously, Nori looked at Chiyo in expectation. She had broken out laughing when Warren pulled his pants down and was trying to pull herself together again when he said she had something to tell Nori. She could tell by the look on Nori's face that he was expecting something a little different from a visit to Mr. Miyagi. For a second, Chiyo remained silent as she tried to come up with an easy way to tell him nothing she had to say was about him.

With a sigh, she gave up and just explained, "Naminé and I got to talking, and when I found out Roxas is in the middle of the forest, I realized Mr. Miyagi could help us find him when it comes time to get Roxas out. Everyone else thinks it's a good idea too. They said if we leave now we could make it home before dark."

"Right," Nori agreed, slightly depressed sounding, "Mr. Miyagi…Roxas. Yeah, we'll go help him." He turned off the video games and walked glumly back toward the door. Everyone else realized he was leaving for Japan and went to follow. When Nori reached the door, he looked back for a second to ask, "He still lives in the same place, doesn't he Vash?"

"As far as I know," Vash replied, "He always has."

Nori waited at the door and watched everyone file out in front of him. He fell into line at the end, locking the door and mumbling, "God, I'm still not allowed to be in Japan."

Everyone looked to Nori in shock except Vash—Vash was the only one who knew. Vash looked around at all the stunned faces and glared at Nori, saying, "I thought I told you to tell them."

Suddenly, added to the surprise was a bit of expectation. More than surprised that Nori couldn't go, they were shocked he wouldn't tell them, and now all were ready for the explanation.

"I…" Nori began unsurely. "I…you guys know I get in trouble with CrawFish a lot. Sure, you prolly all thought it was just because I'm not the most respectful of all citizens, but it's really kinda more. Back when I lived in Japan, I…I made a big mess…with him, and kinda, sort of…tried to assassinate him, more than just being rude and joking around."

All was quiet for a while as people registered the thought. After a second, Warren put an arm around Nori's shoulder and approvingly asked, "All right! How did it go?"

"That would be why I never told you guys," Nori answered, shrugging out from under Warren's arm. He smiled embarrassedly and put one arm behind his head like anime people do sometimes. "It didn't work…at all. Tia had to come rescue us, and for some of us…it was too late. I guess that's why I want to save her so much, 'cuz I owe her one."

"Right," Vash added when the silence picked up again, "but you're older now. It'll work better this time. Let's go get you a disguise so we can all make it to Miyagi-osan's before midnight." This time, Vash grabbed Nori by the shoulders and walked off toward some clothing store in the general direction of Japan. Confused, everyone followed the two friends silently.

It didn't take long for the group to get where Vash was going. He didn't wait for any input from other people. He just went to the back of the room, grabbed a couple things and threw them to Nori. Nori caught them, slightly surprised as Vash said, "Put it on, and make it quick."

Following orders, Nori changed into the clothes Vash had given him. When he came back out of the changing room, he looked down at the outfit Vash had put him in, complaining. It was dark brown robe with a tie thing, and these annoying wooden platform like sandals that you had to wear with special Japanese socks.

Raising his arms to the side, Nori asked, "A samurai?"

Vash smiled and turned to leave the store. "No one will recognize you."

Following him, Nori rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Right. At least when Tiara dressed me up she didn't give me uncomfortable clothes and wooden shoes," he complained, taking off one of the shoes and throwing it at Vash.

Vash caught the shoe. "These shoes are definitely better for throwing at enemies, though," Vash mocked, reminding Nori of the last battle he fought.

"I hate you," Nori finished, taking his shoe back and walking out the door.

Chiyo just laughed when she saw him—along with the new, stick on tattoo of a Japanese word pasted to the corner of his forehead. Warren looked away as if he were embarrassed by his friend's new outfit. Becca was excited by it.

She ran up to Nori and examined him like I had when I first saw him exclaiming, "Ooh, a samurai! Can you really use the katana?"

"Of course!" Nori agreed certainly with a hint of joking in his voice. He reached to the sheath that was strapped to his waist, grabbed the handle, and pulled, questioning, "What samurai couldn't?"

Becca just laughed.

Realizing something had gone wrong along the way, Nori looked to where the katana should have been in his hand and saw just a tiny little dagger. Offended, he glanced down to the now empty sheath and then glared up at Vash.

"Why don't I get a real one?" He demanded.

Vash smiled and started walking away again as he replied, "You'd kill someone."

"Well, that's kinda the point. How am I supposed to defend myself with this?"

"No, I meant by accident."

Nori crossed his arms with a pouty look on his face. "If I had a katana right now, I'd kill you with it."

"You'd kill yourself first."

A second later, Becca came running up, announcing, "Vash, Vash I got you donuts!"

Beginning to drool a little, Vash stared in awe at the donut and began to reach toward it. In the last second, Chiyo jumped between the two of them, grabbing the donut from Becca and mocking, "Stop being such a suck up."

Vash's eyes suddenly grew very large with his pupils shrinking really small. He dropped his arms to his sides, and his mouth fell open. It was a common anime reaction representing shock that somewhat said, "That's not fair!" If he had been any more frustrated by Chiyo stealing his donut, his whole body would have shrunk down to about knee-high, with his head taking up half of his height, and tears pouring from his eyes. Becca too would have looked somewhat similar if she had the over exaggerated emotions of an anime character.

"I'm not being a suck up!" She insisted.

"Oh, really?" Chiyo asked. "You've been here for a shorter time than I have, and you've already bought him donuts three times!"

"Yeah, but…the first time was a bribe just so he would bring me here. And I was only trying to be nice, and…there just happened to be this old man across the street who was giving them away for free."

"Right," Chiyo agreed sarcastically, looking over to the abandoned other side of the street. "And where is this old man now? I don't see him."

"Well of course not!" Becca exclaimed, "He's gone now!"

"How convenient." Chiyo turned around to face Vash. "You want the donut?"

He nodded vigorously and grabbed at Chiyo's hand. She pulled away quickly questioning, "What will you give me for it?"

A hint of anger flashed across his face as he started chasing her around in circles the whole way to Japan. Of course that was the sort of thing that would usually make Nori laugh, but he was so embarrassed by the way he was dressed and the fact that he didn't get a real katana. He didn't even lose all his blush lines or the bright shade of red he'd turned until they were around a block away from Miyagi-osan's house. He only got to be not embarrassed for a short while, though.

Miyagi-osan's door was always open. Anyone could come in whenever they wanted, given the normal Japanese condition, that they take their shoes off at the door. Nori, Chiyo, and Vash didn't even have to think twice about it. Becca and Naminé almost forgot, but knew enough about Japanese culture to remember when they saw the other three do it. Dusty and Warren didn't take off their shoes.

They had taken one step further than the entryway when Nori noticed them and whispered, "You guys."

An older man, who sat at a desk facing the wall, continued for Nori, "Children have no respect for Miyagi house. Please take off shoes." As soon as Dusty and Warren returned to the entryway and removed their shoes, he stood up from the desk. He walked over to them, folded one hand over the other, and bowed to them in greeting. Everyone returned the gesture—some of them better than others.

Vash, Chiyo, and Nori all added, "Miyagi-osan," in turn.

Mr. Miyagi lifted Nori's head up before he had finished bowing and tapped him on the forehead where the tattoo was. "I thought I told you Naruto boys not come back." He suddenly went off ranting in Japanese. Vash and Chiyo broke out laughing because of what Mr. Miyagi was saying.

Nori got a shocked look on his face and took a step backwards saying, "Miyagi-osan…I'm not from Naruto."

Miyagi stopped in the middle of a sentence and switched back to English. "That voice sound like Kyoko-kun. You Takeshi? You look very different. Leaving Japan not good for you boy." He wandered away like he was searching for something muttering, "Blue hair." A moment later he returned and stuffed a fortune cookie into Nori's hands.

Looking at it curiously, Nori wondered, "A fortune cookie? Is that supposed to fix me Osan?"

"No…" Miyagi replied, "You remind me, though. Last time you here, you left it."

"You're giving me a year old fortune cookie?"

Once again Mr. Miyagi walked away to the living room where he sat down on a mat on the floor. There were several mats on the floor surrounding a low coffee table. It was where he customarily entertained guests. Knowing this, the three who had been to his house before, followed him to the living room, and everyone else followed them.

When everyone was comfortably seated around the table, Miyagi began pouring tea in several glasses as he asked, "So why you here Kyoko-kun? And make it quick. I leave for fish in…ten minute."

"Well, actually," Nori explained, "it was Chiyo's idea."

Miyagi looked to the blonde next to Nori and said, "I thought that was you. I glad you still alive."

"Thank you Miyagi-osan," Chiyo began. "In fact, we're here because we need your help…getting through the forest."

When he heard that, Miyagi stopped in mid-sip. "The forest you say? This better not be prank or childish game…Kyoko-kun."

Nori looked down with a guilty smile on his face. That was usually something he would do just for fun. Mr. Miyagi knew him much too well…but this time, that wasn't the case. It was a serious matter.

Vash realized that Nori would never get the entire story out, so he divulged, "It's not a joke this time Miyagi-osan. Queen Dalma asked him to do something, and at the end of it she ended up in captivity. He feels like he should take responsibility for it, so for the last few days we've been trying everything we can think of to find her."

"Ever since the darkness," Miyagi muttered to himself in understanding.

"We just sent two of his friends into the forest because one of them used to live there, in hopes that they might find her there, but so far, nothing really seems to be working, so Chiyo suggested we be prepared for this to not work as well. We need you to help us get his friends back."

"I see. This may take more than ten minute. Fish can wait 'til tomorrow. First thing you need: chocolate bars." He got up to go searching through more drawers for his chocolate, but halfway there he stopped. "No, first thing you need: balance. Second thing you need: chocolate bars."

The group of friends left Mr. Miyagi's house, pockets and arms overflowing with useful tools and information. He had maps of the forest and lists of creatures, each designed to find a different weakness in trespassers, and each with a different weakness themselves. Only one could be easily diverted by Three Musketeer bars. He also told of an invisible road upon which the traveler is protected from every harm, but to follow this road you had to decode a series of complicated riddles taking you each step of the way. This road was also as narrow as six inches at certain times with hundred foot cliffs on either side.

He had suggested, "You be better just throw chocolate bar to strange creature and walk in forest."

With all the helpful things Mr. Miyagi had given the group, they would still have to work out the plan themselves. After all, the exact order that the forest attacks is based upon the personal weaknesses of the explorers. It starts with something they might be able to defeat, and worsens until it has discovered their phobia and they can no longer continue. They would have a lot to plan out still, beginning with each of their personal flaws.

The trip home was fairly uneventful because everyone was so busy thinking about those things, but as the group was getting close to Kairi's house to drop off the girls for the night, darkness returned. Many people were gathered along the street they were on for an evening market, so the darkness easily caused turmoil. A customer would shoplift a bit and be met by a now murderous shop keeper. Two girls could want the same shirt, but there was only one left, and a whole fist fight would emerge.

Dusty scooted a little closer to Warren, knowing he had the ability to protect the group of friends with his awesome firepower, as she whispered surprised, "What just happened?"

Warren snapped at her and then turned to fling fire at someone who's screaming was starting to get on his nerves.

Nori instantly grabbed Warren from behind, calling, "Vash! Help!"

Vash wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but because he was effected by the dark as well, he had no problem elbowing Warren in the gut. Dusty gasped slightly as Warren slumped backwards into Nori's arms. Nori shot a glare up at Vash. That was not how he'd wanted to calm Warren down because it was hard enough to piece him back together when he wasn't holding a grudge. It worked, though, so Nori didn't want to agitate Vash too.

He dragged Warren toward the edge of the road, quietly answering Dusty's question, "It's the darkness. It throws the whole world into chaos."

"But why did it just appear so suddenly?" Becca wondered.

Nori kept dragging Warren, all the way off the road and behind a bunch of shrubs. "It either means something terrible's happened to Tia, or it means CrawFish is coming."

"Huh?" They both asked, neither yet familiar with the lobster's code name.

"That means stop talking and hide," Chiyo whispered harshly, jumping behind the bushes with Nori.

Warren moaned and ordered, "Let go of me." Nori just covered Warren's mouth and kept dragging.

A moment later, Nori stopped when he heard a familiar voice thunder, "Silence!" through the market. He also heard a couple girls nearby whispering, "My God…it's the King. Lionel…What shall we do?"

Nori fell to the ground so the bushes would completely cover him, noting quietly to Dusty and Becca, "It's him; he's here…for you two," at the same time as Lionel began pacing through the crowd demanding, "Where is that boy? I know he's here. I just saw him." He stopped at a random person, glared into his frightened eyes, and continued, "Oh is that what it is? You would dare hide him from me? How could you possibly want to protect him after what he did to your Queen?" He seemed to spit the word "queen."

A wave of muttering flowed across the crowd. "What boy?" "We're not hiding anyone." "Has something happened to Tia?" "Who would dare hurt our queen?"

Lionel gestured to a creature that could change its form to match Nori and continued, "Perhaps you recognize this face."

A gasp of "Nori" came from some girl in the bunch.

"Anime Kid," the bartender mumbled, surprised. Everyone was surpised to learn Nori was the culprit. He took a deep breath and buried his face in his hands. _That wasn't true. It was an accident,_ he thought, wishing he could explain it to all of them.

A guy who lived a few houses from the friends mentioned, "He left town this morning. I haven't seen him back yet."

"Actually," Short Stuff corrected, "they came back into the city not too long ago."

"As I said," Lionel interrupted, "I saw him in this very marketplace. That means someone must be hiding him. The question is," he grabbed a dark haired girl from the crowd and held his claw against her throat, "who is it?"

The crowd went silent. Nori gritted his teeth in frustration. Not fair.

Chiyo looked to him and hissed, "Nori!" as if she were saying, "well aren't you going to do something?"

"I know," Nori grumbled back. He would have gotten to it eventually. After a couple seconds to build up some courage, Nori clenched his fists and charged out of the bushes announcing, "No one. Nobody was hiding me."

Lionel smiled evilly and let the girl go. "Oh there you are Nori…or should I say Kyoko Takeshi."

"Ooh," Nori mocked, "you found out all three of my names. Is that supposed to scare me?"

"No, but what should scare you is: because of that, I've discovered what you call me…CrawFish."

A smile spread across Nori's face as he embarrassedly reached a hand behind his head. "Yeah, we always figured you wouldn't like that too much."

"Actually, it's proven quite handy. After hearing you say it once, I listened to every conversation in the last month with that word in it. You've helped me to finally realize what this city really thinks of me. I think I'll just vaporize the whole place right now. That ought to teach you people."

Nori's heart skipped a beat, and he took a shocked step back, shaking his head. "That's not fair."

Lionel opened his cloak threateningly and reached toward something. "No! Stop it," Nori insisted, grabbing Lionel's arm. Lionel flung him off and a couple feet away.

Someone in the crowd called out, "What makes you think you can save us?"

"Queen Dalma was the only one who could save us from this, but, thanks to you, that won't be possible," another pointed out.

Once again, Nori was unable to think of something to say, but Warren hopped up in his place, flinging a ball of fire at the person in the crowd and shouting, "Don't mock my friends!"

Kairi shot up a second later to try to keep Warren under control.

"It was an accident," Nori explained. "Tia confronted him…of her own accord, and now our queen is in captivity because she wouldn't let me die…but you know what I learned from it? I learned she wants us to live, and not just us as a collective, but each and every one of us matters to her. And that is why we need to stick together." Nori had gone into a really motivational speech, and started gesturing to go along with it. An unusually large gesture accompanied the next phrase, "So we can live…so we can bring her—what was that?"

He randomly turned around and looked to the girl who had been in Lionel's possession. Between her hands she held a small ball of blue light that she was staring at in awe. It had come from Nori's hand. He looked to his left hand and saw another one forming. After a moment of amazed elation, Nori turned back to Lionel.

Shouting, "Take that," Nori threw the ball at Lionel.

It caused absolutely no harm at all, simply served to make Lionel more angry. The lobster let out a sort of roar and growled, "You have light."

Nori smiled gleefully. "Now nothing matters because you can't stop me anymore."

"You think that light gives you some sort of power?" Lionel demanded, slightly humored.

"Of course I do," Nori insisted, stomping him foot and slamming fist down in unison. Suddenly, a column of light surrounded Nori all the way from the ground to the seventh level of heaven. Nori just looked up in wonder.

Shading his eyes from the brightness, Lionel questioned, "How is this going to stop me?"

"Light will always triumph over darkness," Nori insisted. "I'm like a sunrise over the African Desert. If you want your darkness, you'll have to go hide under a rock, or better yet, go back to the bottom of the ocean where lobster's come from."

"Even with your beaming personality, I could easily wipe you off the face of this world."

"Not if all of us stand behind him," Kairi stated, having brought Warren over to the light to help calm him down. The whole town watched as the light radiating from Nori's body spread to encompass his two friends. With a new sense of hope, the townsfolk gradually filed into the column of light, and it continued to grow to cover them all.

Blind and defeated, Lionel would have to leave, but he mentioned as he left, "So you can put up a bigger fight than I thought, but you can't protect the whole world. I'm sure your friends in Japan would love it if I paid them a visit."

"No! You wouldn't dare! I'll light the whole world!"

"Do it," Lionel invited mysteriously.

Nori closed his eyes, concentrating very hard to be sure it would work. When he felt enough energy had built up inside, he did the same thing as last time—stomped and pounded his fist. At first, he didn't think it had worked because all the light flooded back in towards him, but a second later, a giant burst of light filled the sky as far as they could see. It only lasted for a moment, though, before the light disappeared, and Nori collapsed weakly to the ground. Vash knelt immediately by his side.

"That wiped him out," Lionel mocked, "inexperienced child." He sounded a little insecure, though. After all, no one had ever been able to produce light right in front of him.

Warren stood protectively in front of Nori and warned, "I'll fight you."

Lionel turned away from the crowd of people. "I'm leaving, but take this as a warning. The mercy ends here. Next time I hear someone even mention the name Tia Dalma, you're all dead." He snapped his fingers and faded into the darkness.

I was wandering around the shack we were locked in. Either it was Tia Dalma's shack, or it was a complete replica because it certainly looked like it. I had found a pile of jewelry and was fingering through it when I heard a small popping noise. Looking over to where the sound had come from, I saw the guard boy suddenly reappear against the same wall he had disappeared from.

I smiled at him slightly, wondering, "Won't you get in trouble for being gone?"

He didn't answer. He simply coughed a few times and collapsed to the floor, beginning to shiver. I knew that was a bad sign, so I took him into the bedroom and laid him under the covers of the bed. I had my hand on his forehead, feeling his temperature rise, when he came back to consciousness a moment later. Within a second, however, he bit my hand, and I pulled back in pain.

"Ow!" I cried. "You vicious boy. I was only trying to help."

He cowered away slightly, as if he were a dog laying his ears back in apology, muttering a small, "Sorry."

I cocked my head to the side, wondering why he'd reacted that way. "I'm not mad. It just hurts, and I wanna know why you did it."

"Nothing…I…I th-thought I was still in my story for a second," he replied nervously.

"Lionel would be pretty mad if he found that out, wouldn't he?"

"Well, it's your fault! You're the one who broke the necklace," he accused, fading off at the end when he realized he'd started to yell.

I thought back to the day before when I'd accidentally tripped over one of the various objects strewn across the floor. Flailingly, I grabbed toward him to catch my balance, but missed him, instead grabbing the necklace. It ripped apart, and I still fell to the floor. He had stared at me, seeming to be very frightened, for a long time after it broke. Now I understood.

I smiled.

Uncertain as to what the smile meant, he timidly asked, "What?"

"You remind me of someone," I answered.

His eyes lit up slightly as he sat up and questioned, "Really? Your voice is familiar too."

"That's neat!" I exclaimed. "We could really get along."

"No," the boy sighed. "It's why I did that." He pointed to my hand.

I looked down to my hand that was still bleeding from where he'd punctured the skin. I reminded him of someone bad in his story that he'd want to bite. Could it really be? His wrists were bleeding too, I realized…and the hat, and the attitude. Instinctly, I reached toward his bleeding wrists. He whined and pulled away fearfully. Knowing that it was the same person I was thinking of, I pulled off the beanie hat he'd been wearing, revealing a set of soft black ears.

"Hallom!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms around him in a hug.

He winced and then tried to push me off of him. "Oka-ay," he stumbled out, "you know me."

I backed off, quickly remembering that he wasn't much of the touchy feely sort, and commenting, "I just always wanted to hug you."

He nodded slightly, confused as to why I knew him already, but for some reason, the question I was expecting didn't come. Hallom just sat there, staring at his hands.

Because I hated silence, I started the conversation again with, "My friend isn't very nice to you, is she?"

"Which one are you talking about?" He muttered.

"Your author…Katie Hunt."

His ears laid back, his eyes narrowed, and I thought I heard a small growl come up from his throat. He tried to ask, "You know her," but it turned out to be more of an angry demand.

"Yeah, she's a friend of mine, you know, 'cuz I'm an author too. We started exchanging stories a little while ago, and that's how come I know about you," I explained.

He quietly nodded, still just fidgeting with his hands. After a second, I added, "I get mad at her every time she's being mean to you."

"Your voice," he began and then stopped. A second later came, "just makes me wanna…" He kept pausing like he really didn't want to say it, but he eventually got it out. Squeezing the air with his hands, he finished, "Kill something."

I covered my mouth with one hand, finally figuring out exactly how he recognized me. "The snake," I muttered embarrassedly, "I'm sorry. Would you prefer if I talked like this?" I questioned getting a really goofy, fake, deep voice that sounded kind of like the voice Mulan had when she was first trying to convince everyone she was a man.

He didn't laugh, but he did look away and roll his eyes.

Deciding I'd be British for a little while, I explained in my best accent, "It's just…I used ta joke with Katie 'bout how much I liked ye and that she should put me in 'er story so that I could steal ye from Tally. So she put me in yer story…only she made me the evil, creepy snake lady. I didn't really e're wanna torture ye."

A moment later, when the silence returned, I asked, "That necklace kept ye here? Like the same way Writers' Block keeps people from der stories." He nodded, looking back at his hands folded in his lap. I took my necklace off and dangled it in front of his face. "Here. Take mine, so ye won't have to go back to yer story just yet…and so ye won't get inta any trouble wit' dat lobster guy."

"No," he insisted urgently. "There'll be more trouble if he catches you without one."

"But I'm not a character; I'm an author. I can't go to any stories anyways."

"Th-then why do you have one in the first place?"

I shrugged. "Standard procedure…If we're gonna be askin' questions like dat, ye better tell me what ye're doin' 'ere, werkin' fer Lionel 's'posed ta frolickin' 'bout wit all dem other good chaps in _**Fiction-land**_."

Hallom was silent for a long time before he finally responded, "First of all…just because you changed your voice doesn't mean that you have to pretend no one ever taught you to speak English." He smiled, having said his daring sentence for the day.

I smiled back. "I can do proper British just as well."

"It's—it's not my fault—or like I really…wanna be here."

"You know you actually may have to complete a sentence to tell me this story?" I asked to loosen things up a bit when he stopped talking again.

He looked back to his hands with a sigh. "He…he just chooses random people…anybody."

"Lionel?" I probed. "To be his guards?"

Hallom nodded. "It's—It's not a punishment…or a privilege…It's just…unfortunate."

"How long is it for?" I wondered after a second.

"A year."

_A whole year,_ I thought,_ that's a long time to go without writing about someone._ Another silence came over the two of us for a while until we heard Tia Dalma call out, "'Eh Lass, come see dis."

I rushed over to where she was, looking out a window in the shack at the darkness that had covered the countryside. More important than that, however, was a small column of light that had appeared many, many miles away. It extended upwards into the heavens, shrinking and growing. After a second—actually the exact moment that Hallom made it to the window to look too—the light exploded, filling the sky with a blinding white color. We all shaded our eyes and looked away for a second. When we dared open them again, everything was back to dark.

Tia Dalma noted, "Nori's foun' it…da light, bu' e'en I cain't make light righ' in front o' Lionel like 'e did."

I smiled, very wide. I had created a hero! After indulging in my ecstasy for a while, I slipped the necklace over Hallom's head when he wasn't paying attention.

He looked to me in shock but didn't say anything.

I smiled particularly to him to make him know everything was all right. "Keep it for a couple days. Heal up nice and good, and by then we'll have broken out of here and you won't need one anymore."


	17. Chapter 16 Got it memorized?

I don't really think there will be any new characters at this late point in the story...I guess that ends the fun thank yous.

* * *

"We need all the hearts we can get, blah, blah, blah," the right hand said. 

"And we're so pathetic now, we can't even get them because we let a stupid lobster live with us," the left hand replied squeakily.

Roxas sighed. _Sora, I'm bored, _he complained. _How long can one man honestly talk about hearts?_

_You have no idea Roxas,_ Sora answered. _Every time I've ever seen him, that's all he's ever talked about: hearts._

Roxas just sighed again and stared blankly across the room. It, like everything else in the castle, was overwhelmingly white. The walls were lined with chairs raised to various heights to designate rank in the organization. Roxas occupied the lowest seat, forcing half a dozen "Number XIII's" who had been asked to replace him to leave the meeting. After almost an hour, Roxas was wishing one of them had taken his place.

_Maybe you should pay a little attention, _Sora suggested. _It might make things less boring. I've learned a lot._

_Right…sure, maybe,_ Roxas responded sarcastically. He zoned out again a little while later, not to be brought back to reality until the leader had called his name at least three times. Finally he looked up with a, "Huh?"

"So you've forgotten your own name now, along with the directions to the meeting room," the leader pointed out.

"No, I haven't," Roxas insisted, "I just—" then he stopped.

"Don't remember," he finished for Roxas.

"Wasn't paying attention."

"Are you implying that if you had been paying attention, you would have remembered? Because it is imperative that you remember."

"I'll do better next time…I promise."

"Because it's also been brought to my attention that you walked to the castle."

Roxas frowned, his mouth opening slightly for a moment before he asked, "So?"

"You certainly had to concentrate hard enough on that to realize you could have just made a portal…given that you actually remember."

"A portal?...I just felt like walking…you know, so I could give myself enough time to make sure I actually wanted to come," Roxas explained unsurely.

"Then why didn't you just think about it at home before you came?" A blonde girl across the way questioned harshly.

"Because…" Roxas drew out the 'because' as he thought. "Then I would have talked myself _out_ of coming instead of _into_ coming because…it's…darker in the forest."

Roxas looked hopefully over to Axel who sat there continuing to take note of Roxas's symptoms. He knew Axel wasn't going to help him out of this one. On the contrary, Axel suggested, "I propose a test."

"What exactly are you suggesting Number VIII?" The leader inquired curiously.

"A test of his memory, in which you come up with a bunch of questions you think are important and a couple days from now—"

"Marvelous idea Number VIII…ask him something."

Axel looked over to Roxas with a worried look on his face. "Now? 'Cause I was thinking—"

"Now," the leader insisted roughly.

Actually understanding how vital it was that Roxas remember, Axel tried to think of a question that seemed important that Roxas would know the answer to. He recalled that he only **knew **Roxas remembered him in Twilight Town. But what had they talked about in Twilight Town that was important at all? He knew he'd asked Roxas what their boss's name was…but had he ever actually answered that question?

"Axel," the leader probed.

"What's our boss's name?" Axel questioned quickly, hoping Roxas would suddenly get his memory back.

Fear flashed across Roxas's face as his mind once again was void of all thought. He blinked his eyes a couple times, trying to remember. Sora caught that Roxas needed help, so he started racking his brain as well. What was it that Axel had said that one day?

"_C'mon, it's a set-up by Organization XIII." No, it wasn't that…_

"_Destroy the Heartless—that's his big, master plan." Getting closer…_

"_The guy you just saw, he's their leader. Got it memorized? X-E-M, N-A-S."_

_That's it!_ Sora exclaimed to Roxas, _X-E-M, N-A-S._

Roxas slowly repeated the letters. The leader, Xemnas, gave Roxas a questioning look. Why had he spelled the name as opposed to saying it? And why did it take him so long to answer? After pondering it over for a while, he turned to a different section of the room.

"Vexen, I put you in charge of making sure all his memories are put back in proper order."

"No!" Roxas called out, but then he caught himself and continued more calmly, "I don't want to be one of Vexen's experiments."

"You remember Vexen?" Xemnas wondered.

"Y-yeah," Roxas answered, trying to make it seem obvious.

"Which one is he?"

Roxas looked around the room once and then closed his eyes to think. _There's thirteen. X-E-M, N-A-S is the one in front of me, Axel is to my side, Demyx is across the way._

Jokingly, Sora added, _Well, we know he isn't the girl._

_That leaves…_Roxas counted on his fingers, _nine. No, eight 'cuz I'm here. Those aren't very good chances if I just guess._

_Wait Roxas. Why eight? I only counted seven._

Roxas opened his eyes again, once more searching the room. Sora was right. The whole meeting one of the chairs had been empty. He cocked his head to the side and asked, "Where's Saix?"

Axel dropped his head to his hands in confusion, commenting silently to himself, "He remembers Saix?"

"You're avoiding the question," Xemnas noted. "Which one is Vexen?"

Knowing he would have no choice but to just pick one, Roxas focused on the group of people Xemnas had looked at when addressing Vexen. There were four people there that he didn't recognize. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and just pointed randomly in their direction.

"That one," he decided as he opened his eyes again to see who exactly he had chosen.

Demyx couldn't help but break out laughing. "Ha, Luxord! I'd like to see him try to do chemistry."

Roxas dropped his eyes down and looked at his hands folded in his lap mumbling, "Why's it so important I remember anyways?"

"You are the Keyblade's Chosen One, the Nobody of our archenemy Sora. You already left us once for that Denizen of Light…back when you still remembered us. If you remember nothing of us, what is there to prevent you from abandoning us again?"

Roxas was silent again. They had a good point. He was only there to turn against them again. Having memories of the place might make it harder to leave.

"You do remember leaving, don't you?"

Nodding slightly, Roxas replied, "Axel tried to stop me."

"Well, it's clear you have a small amount of memory left; though, it is not quite as apparent why you've chosen to remember the things you remember…My orders remain the same. Vexen is to be in charge of determining what you remember and what you don't…preferably by some method not involving experimentation," Xemnas added specifically for Vexen. "Then we will decide how to proceed from there. This meeting is now adjourned."

Everyone turned to leave the meeting. A guy with long blonde hair that looked kind of girly smiled at Roxas from a few feet away as he left the room. _That was a creepy smile, _Roxas noticed.

_I think that was Vexen,_ Sora replied.

_I think that was Vexen… I think that was Vexen…_repeated through Roxas's mind as he laid in bed that night, unable to sleep because he kept pondering every possible variation of past that Vexen would dig up in the voids of his mind. That was the third time the whole meeting had replayed across his memory. He knew there was nothing he could have done to make it better, but still…he couldn't sleep.

Exhaustedly he crawled out of bed and wandered over to Axel's room. He knocked softly. A couple seconds later the redhead grumpily opened the door, stretching with one hand and scratching his spiky hair with the other. He looked like he would be really, really angry, until he opened his eyes and realized who was standing at his door in the middle of the night.

Immediately his face softened as he inquired, "Roxas? What are you doing?"

"I can't remember," Roxas finally admitted.

"What?" Axel questioned, still too asleep to get it.

"You knew it all along, and I kept hiding it from you, but mostly I was hiding it from myself. And I do remember some things—like that you're my best friend, which means you should want to help me with this, right?"

Axel opened the door the rest of the way, letting Roxas into the room. After shutting the door behind him, Axel rubbed his eyes and asked, "What are we doing again?"

"You have to make me remember, so that Vexen doesn't get to."

"So I get to do my favorite thing in the world…"

"Whaz that?"

"Here's a hint," Axel tapped his finger on his temple as he questioned, "Got it memorized?"

Roxas sat down on the bed with a smile. "I remember that."

It was several hours later…probably close to three in the morning. Axel had long since run out of questions to ask, and Roxas was almost asleep on his bed. That wasn't too great for Axel because Axel was sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed. Not the greatest way to sleep by most standards. He closed his eyes drowsily, but just before he would have drifted off to sleep, something came to him.

"Roxas," he began drowsily, "why'd you leave?"

Roxas didn't answer at first, so he questioned, "Are you asleep?"

"No," Roxas replied.

"Do you not remember why you left?"

"No, just…give me a second." He rubbed his eyes, rolled onto his front, and propped himself up on his elbows. "I thought I told you already. Because…I had to know why the keyblade chose me."

"No, not that time Roxas," Axel corrected. "You've done that a thousand times, in all the various stories. By now, how could you not remember? But even after that you stayed with us…in real life, until one morning you just weren't there. In real life, why'd you leave?"

After a couple seconds of silence, Roxas recounted, "Sora told me once."

"Sora?" Axel questioned, concerned.

"Yeah, I couldn't remember, so I asked him if he knew, and he told me that I told him that I was tired of watching you die…Because, like, all of you guys die…at the end of every story, and yeah, you get replaced, but not by the same person. You have none of the same memories—unless they're like really generic ones like…what position you are in the organization. And he said I told him it was like starting over, again, and again, and again. So I couldn't take it anymore, but I couldn't tell you guys because…well, you're not supposed to know you die."

"It's kinda ironic how the rolls have changed."

"How?"

"You, Roxas…It's like starting over with a brand new Roxas because you can't remember hardly anything." Roxas smiled sadly but didn't say anything, so Axel continued, "I know how you feel, about the whole dying thing. Somehow my author didn't kill Demyx and I…We've been through…three Organization XIII's already. One batch didn't even act like themselves at all. They're the ones that let Lionel move in. It's a pain."

It was kind of quiet for a while after that, and Roxas was once again drifting off to sleep when Axel couldn't hold in his curiosity any longer, "Well, if being here is such a pain for you, why'd you come back?"

"Come back?" Roxas repeated in shock, adding to himself, _God, I can't tell you that!...Well, I don't want to lie to you, but..._ "I felt bad, for leaving you all…knowing I had a heart—which is what we all wanted, it's what we were all here for—and you guys still didn't. So I came back…'cuz you're my friends, and I just feel bad being happy if you aren't too. Sora's waiting for me…as soon as everyone finds their Somebody, I'll go back. We'll all leave happy together."

Axel smiled. "You'd really give all that up for us? You know, you'll have to fight Sora, right? Because Xemnas hates him…he might die. What would you do then?"

A guilty look came over Roxas, so Axel asked, "You never thought about it, did you?"

"No," Roxas answered sheepishly, both of them laughing quietly.

"Well, I'm not tired anymore. Let's keep memorizing. What is it Zexion makes for breakfast again?"

"Pancakes?" Roxas replied unsurely, but then he repeated, "Yeah, pancakes."

Wesley gazed mindlessly out the window at the open sea. Usually being on a ship made him feel better, but this time it wasn't working. He just sat there and stared at the waves as they rolled by, as gloomily as he had been the day before. A chain smoker with blonde hair that covered his left eye came into the room to grab the empty dinner plate from a small table.

Without ever looking away from the sea, Wesley glumly noted, "Tell the cook the food was good."

"Actually," the man replied, "I'm the cook."

"Oh, sorry," Wesley said looking over to him, wondering why they let the smoker on the ship, much less near the food. The food was good, though, so he could ignore that.

"But I always enjoy hearing that my food is appreciated…even if it comes from someone who hasn't said a word all day."

Wesley just shrugged.

At the same time, Zoro peeked his head through the door inquiring, "Is the same thing still bothering you Kid?"

"Aye, I guess," Wesley admitted with a sigh.

Zoro shot a glance at the blonde to let him know he should leave the two alone for a while. After the blonde left, Zoro joined Wesley at the bed by the window and asked, "Why does it bother you so much that you killed him?"

"Because I've never killed anyone…ever. It's an act of cowardice and desperateness. Y'know, to be able to fight so many people and escape every battle, clearly the victor, without once killing any of them, and then to blow my opponent up with a grenade…" He paused for a very long time. "Was I scared? Why did I want him dead so badly?"

"Well, he did attack you first. You were just protecting your own life."

"Right, like that makes me feel better. I didn't win; I cheated. So maybe I'm alive, but I'm a complete failure now. I attacked from the back, and it most certainly wasn't a fair sword fight."

"Because what he was using was obviously a sword…" Zoro added sarcastically.

"Never, I've never killed anyone. I spent seven years as a pirate and never had to kill anyone. I've spent weeks running away from the same person, and still never felt the need to turn around and kill him so he'd stop following me. And here I am…it's hardly even been two days, an' I blew someone up with a bloody grenade!"

After a very long silence, Zoro questioned, "Would it make you feel better to know he isn't entirely dead?"

"Aye, so now he's gonna come back an' wanna get bloo'y revenge? Is tha' s'posed ta make me feel betteh?"

"Well, he can't exactly do that. You were right when you said we can't die…at least without being killed by our stories. Now, he's in a place called Tartarus. It's a realm for dead people who aren't really dead. He'll still be able to fully enjoy the pleasures of whatever story he's involved in…he just can't do anything other than that."

Wesley thought for a very long time before he answered, "Not really."

Suddenly, a hard wave crashed against the side the ship and the ship rocked roughly from side to side. A storm had swept up. Zoro knew he would be needed on deck, so he stood up and quickly ended the conversation with, "Just know you did the right thing."

Wesley mumbled a few things under his breath, mentioning something about his father as Zoro headed back to the door. "Do you want my help?" He asked, hopefully before Zoro had left.

"Nah, we'll be all right without you," Zoro replied.

As soon as Zoro was out of ear shot, Wesley complained, "At least if I were helping, I could get my mind off of it."

"Why do you want me to get him?" Demyx questioned.

"Because," Xaldin responded with a hint of agitation in his voice. He was in the process of stirring up a huge storm with his special wind powers—not a good time to annoy him—"he's in the middle of the ocean, and you're the one who likes water."

"Yeah, but—" Demyx argued.

"Because it's the plan," Zexion added, shivering in the background. "Now just quit arguing and get it over with before we all catch a cold in this storm."

Demyx didn't complain further. He simply dove into the rough ocean and swam out to the ship as if it were as easy as doing laps in an indoor pool would be. Once he reached the ship, he climbed up to the deck to make sure all the crew was accounted for there before heading to the room Wesley was in. He also dispatched a couple dusks to guard the door so no one would enter the room without at least causing a ruckus that he would notice. When he was sure all the precautions had been take, he quietly made a portal and slipped into the room below deck.

Silently, he snuck up behind the pirate and held the gauze over his mouth. It should have made him pass out within three seconds, but after five, when Wesley was standing up and elbowing him in the groin, he knew the poison hadn't worked. He fell to the ground in pain as Wesley drew his sword. Knowing he'd need a bit of a distraction, Demyx reached a hand into the air and immediately his sitar appeared. Wesley closed his eyes trying to calm himself, as he repeated in his mind, _Stupid magic, stupid magic._ Demyx struck a chord on the sitar, and suddenly twenty clones of himself surrounded Wesley.

Wesley dropped his sword to his side, protesting, "I can't do that!"

"We've been ordered to take you into the Castle That Never Was," all twenty of them stated, "There's no time for fair fighting."

In utter frustration, Wesley charged the version of Demyx that was in the same place the original had been in and stabbed him in the gut. "You killed the wrong one," echoed through the room as the Demyx dissolved before his eyes.

Wesley stumbled dizzily, and he fell to his knees holding his head as he stuttered, "K-killed. I-I can't kill an-anyone."

The Demyx's all combined back into one, and he had a very concerned look on his face to see the way Wesley was acting. Was he cursed in some way? Was he going to die because he killed the clone? Or was the poison finally starting to kick in? What was happening?

A second later, Wesley shot back to his feet and charged the one Demyx, bragging, "Got ye!"

Unexpectedly, a stick came out from behind him and grabbed him by the throat saying, "And I got you." Wesley recognized the voice as coming from the man with six weird sticks—Xaldin. Xaldin continued, asking Demyx, "What took you so long? We're out of time."

"The poison didn't work," Demyx replied, seeming quite confused about what just happened.

"That's impossible," Zexion noted, appearing through a portal but leaving it open for them all to leave through. Xaldin walked through first with a firm hand over Wesley's mouth. Dejected Demyx followed, and Zexion ended the procession stating, "It always works."


	18. Chapter 17 Falling

Xaldin looked down at the pirate sprawled across the white, stone floor. He was much weaker, hardly even able to move, but he deserved it. Placing one of his six lances against the kid's throat at least got a reaction of Wesley opening his eyes halfway for a second.

"I'm not going to kill you," Xaldin mentioned, pulling the lance away. "That would be much too easy on you. You will be sorry you destroyed one of us." Then, he created a portal to leave the cell.

Zexion was still in there. He had watched all of the torture in wait to say one thing to Wesley when they were alone. He waited a couple seconds to make sure Xaldin wouldn't come back in before he said it.

"I dare you to break out," he said eventually.

Wesley swallowed, opened one eye, and raised the same eyebrow curiously.

"This cell, it should be inescapable, but then, the other was reputed to be so as well, and you managed to get out easily. I'd like to see you try again…as sort of a test for the new system I designed."

Wesley didn't respond at all.

"I'll insure your safety if you succeed—given that you don't actually leave the building. Remember that I'm asking you to test the system, not giving you permission to escape entirely. A pirate like you would try to use that excuse." He paused and then concluded the 'conversation' with, "Good luck," as he too left the cell.

Wesley just laid there.

A couple hours later, Lexaeus and Marluxia were walking through the white hallway in the castle, discussing an unusual occurrence that had confronted them that morning. Both had been sent on missions to different places, but both had been asked to attack the same person who, like Demyx, had the ability to clone herself. She could only do it once, though. Neither of them had succeeded, and both of them returned with the same scar: a question mark on their left peck. They found it quite coincidental, so they were exchanging tips to help defeat her the next time.

As they rounded a corner, they found Wesley sitting weakly in the middle of the hallway. When he saw them, fear flashed across his face, and he stood wobbly to his feet. Marluxia immediately took out his scythe and Lexaeus, a tomahawk. Wesley felt around for a weapon he could pull out. Not finding one, he smiled embarrassedly.

"What are you doing out of your cell?" Lexaeus demanded.

Knowing that they had every intention of attacking him, Wesley responded honestly, "I'm waitin' fer someone."

"Your extraction?" Marluxia questioned, raising the scythe to attack.

"No," Wesley insisted, "this kid, about my age. He's got an 'x' in his name, and…and silver hair that he always wears in his face like this." Wesley desperately grabbed his own hair and tried to pull it over one eye. It wasn't quite long enough, but they got the point.

"Zexion?" Both Nobodies guessed, looking to each other.

"Oh, is that what his name is?"

They looked back to Wesley, hate in their eyes, as Marluxia stated, "We'll take you to Zexion…after we kill you for murdering Number VII."

Wesley turned to run, but not quickly enough. The two vengeful Nobodies were already upon him.

Just like Xaldin, the two stopped right before Wesley reached unconsciousness and then dragged him back to the prison cell. They were going to leave him there while they looked for Zexion and bring Zexion back to the cell. When they got there, however, they were surprised to see Zexion standing in the middle of the cell, staring in total awe at the door which had completely fallen to pieces.

"What happened here?" Marluxia inquired, putting one hand on his hip.

Zexion looked curiously to the two Nobodies, then down at the limp pirate between them, and back at the door. Remembering his deal with Wesley from earlier, and the promise that he wouldn't get in trouble for doing it, Zexion ordered in a tone more commanding than the usual, "You let him go, right now."

"Number VI," Marluxia began in shock, "are you helping him get out? How dare you turn against us, you traitor."

Surprised to have gotten that response, Zexion stepped back in shock. "Oh…no, it's nothing like that," he defended. "I—I just told him nothing would happen if he broke out, since I asked him to do it."

"Why'd you do that?" Lexaeus wondered.

"Well…since it's the first time we've used this cell, I wanted to be sure I didn't miss something in its design," Zexion explained. Then, picking up one of the stone pieces, he finished, "Apparently I did." After a second, he continued examining the door, adding quietly to himself, "I wonder what it was."

"It's not something anyone but me would notice," Wesley mentioned softly. "You're right about it being unbreakable."

All three looked to Wesley, surprised, but mostly Zexion. Approaching the pirate, he questioned, "If it's unbreakable, then how did you get out?"

"With this," Wesley answered, holding out a small object.

Zexion took it from Wesley inquisitively, asking, "A paperclip?" He turned around and ordered to no one in particular, "Build me a new one. I will discover how he got out."

Curiously, Marluxia asked after a second, "What would you have us do with him in the mean time?"

"A five by five by five lead box with no seams should work," Zexion replied, exaggerating a little, "and make sure he has no paperclips this time."

Life in the Kyoko house hadn't been too eventful since the night before…at least not for the Kyoko himself. After Vash drug him back home, he slept. When he woke up the next morning, he slept. He wasn't in pain or anything, just exhausted. Finally, he lifted his drowsy head off his pillow and wandered into the living room. The four girls were already at the house. Chiyo, Kairi, Warren, and Vash were standing by the counter—Chiyo was actually sitting on it—trying to figure out where the Castle That Never Was was on the map. Everyone else was working on the invisible road.

After a second, Dusty jumped to her feet and exclaimed, "I've got it! I figured out where the road starts!"

"Finally, there's a reason for your existence," Warren mocked.

"So where is it?" Nori asked through a yawn.

"I don't know…yet," she corrected, and everyone's hopes died. "But I did figure out what the clue says. The triangle it talks about…it's like when someone is tapping phone calls, when you're talking to them, they can 'triangulate' your location using satellites—or 'flashing stars' as the clue calls them. The location is the destination…you have to call someone where you're going, so the forest will find your location and direct you to the correct invisible road."

"After all, that's the only way it can take you anywhere in the forest," Naminé agreed, acting like she'd known that at one point and was finally remembering it. It wasn't like she actually had to walk in the forest when she lived there.

"That really does make sense," Vash noted.

Warren thought for a second and then walked to the door calling, "Hey Nori, toss me your phone."

"Uh…why?" Nori wondered dumbly.

"I'm going to go call Roxas…find the beginning of the road," Warren explained slowly as Nori just stared at him as if he were retarded.

"Why?" Nori questioned eventually.

"Because I used to live in the forest, and he's in the Castle That Never Was, so I'm the only one who can call him without getting him killed."

Nori stared for a moment longer, before it dawned on him and he tossed the phone to Warren with a, "Oh, okay." Warren walked out the door and headed toward the forest.

Roxas wasn't in a good position to be interrupted at the time. Just after lunch, he had been hijacked by Vexen and taken to his lab in the basement of the castle. I'm not going to say whether or not it was white. He made Roxas sit down in a chair that looked like a dentist chair as he rummaged about in his cupboards for something.

After glancing around the room for a second, Roxas mentioned, "I _really_ don't want to be here."

"Don't worry," Vexen assured, looking away from his cupboard momentarily and then searching some more. When he finally found what he was looking for, he walked back to the dentist chair with a vile and a needle, continuing, "It's not experimental. Everything we're doing today has been thoroughly proven to work."

"You mean I'm not the first person to lose my memories?" Roxas questioned, somewhat sarcastically.

Vexen mumbled some things inaudibly under his breath including the terms, "mice," "Heartless," and "hybrid."

Roxas got a disgusted and worried look on his face as he wondered, "What is it supposed to do?"

Vexen set the vile and needle down on a table and started hooking a machine up. "It's a quick way to determine what exactly you do have in your head still," he replied, smacking two patches onto Roxas's temples.

Roxas grabbed his head in surprise. What in the world was he going to do? A small monitor clipped onto the side of one nostril like a nose ring continuously checking his breathing rate. Then, a hat like the hair dryers in salons fell down over his head, and Vexen reappeared in front of him with a chuckle. Something was beeping in the corner, and Vexen apparently thought it was funny.

"Calm down kid," he suggested, "you're hyperventilating. This isn't going to hurt you at all…except for maybe a small prick from the needle."

Vexen filled the needle halfway with the liquid in the vile and was about ready to give Roxas the shot when Zexion walked through the door, announcing, "Sorry I'm late."

"Yes, I heard about your mistake with the pirate boy," Vexen responded as a sort of greeting, sort of a, _Hey I'm over here, just so you know,_ sort of mocking his fellow intellectual.

Zexion rolled his eyes—though you could only see one—and joined Vexen by the chair as Vexen pushed the needle in Roxas's upper arm. "It wasn't a mistake. I did it on purpose because I knew if there was a loophole he'd find it. The mistake was in not standing outside of the door and waiting two hours for him to figure it out…So where are we?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Just a couple seconds and it will be working," Vexen answered.

The two just stared at Roxas and he just stared back until it started happening. His vision went blurry, his eyes crossed, his head bobbed once, and there was a small prick in his head Vexen hadn't mentioned. Then, everything felt normal again, just a little more distant. Both scientists smiled, and a second later, words started coming out of his mouth.

"Hey ladies, have either of you seen somebody named Sora?" He asked.

Vexen and Zexion moved to the back of the machine where there was a small screen that showed everything Roxas said. _It was Port Royal,_ popped up, and then, _Hey ladies, have either of you seen somebody named Sora? One of them looked at him flirtatiously and responded, "Sorry kid, never heard of him." After a second, the other one asked, "Say, you'll be looking pretty hard for this kid, won't you?" "Yes Miss," I replied. "If you happen to come across a certain Jack Sparrow, would you mind giving him a message?" "Sure." Then she slapped me, and they walked away._

The memories started out very slowly and then got faster and faster until the two scientists could neither read it on the screen nor understand it coming from Roxas's mouth. A second later, Vexen touched a button on the screen and a whole page of information printed out.

Vexen looked it over and handed it to Zexion, saying, "Seems to be working. Give it a couple hours and I'll have a book for you to read. By this evening, all his memories should be down in writing."

Zexion examined the page for a couple seconds, and then suddenly two short beeps came from the front of the room, followed by the sound of electric guitars. Roxas glanced distantly over to it like he recognized the noise from somewhere.

Noticing that reaction, Zexion walked toward the sound asking, "Is that his?" He quickly found the little red video phone and hit the answer button. "Hello."

The mysterious looking boy on the other end responded casually, "Whoa Roxas, you've had a makeover since the last time I saw you."

"Uh…" Zexion had to think of how to answer that. "Roxas can't talk right now."

"Oh, so he's only been back on our side for a day and he's already got a secretary. Of course."

"Not exactly."

"Oh, well I heard he'd gone back home finally, and I wanted to welcome him and see how he was doing. Could you give him that message?"

"I don't take messages," Zexion insisted.

"Thanks," Warren interrupted somewhere in the middle of it. Then a mischievous idea came to Warren, since he was surrounded with darkness. "Oh, and would you give him a big, squishy hug for me? Thanks kitten," he concluded, hanging up as a small bit of a yellow brick road appeared to the left. After a second, the road disappeared again, but not before Warren got there. He took a bottle of blue spray paint from his pocket and marked an 'x' where the road had been.

He chuckled quietly to himself. "It's been a while since I've vandalized something."

Zexion stared at the phone once he'd hung up. Eventually he wandered back over to Vexen in a daze, commenting, "He called me kitten."

"Who was it?" Vexen inquired.

"I think it was one of Roxas's old friends from last time he lived here."

"And he already found out Roxas is back?"

Zexion shrugged. "I'm going to go see how my new cell is coming along."

Once again, Roxas's sleep was plagued by flashbacks. So many memories had gone through his mind that day, some of them funny and plenty of them troubling. He finally got tired enough that when he closed his eyes he'd drift off to sleep instead of thinking back to his friends. It wasn't long that he got to rest peacefully, however.

_Axel was on the clock tower with…me, and we were talking; though, I couldn't figure what about. Everything was completely silent. He seemed frustrated, gesturing a lot, and he kept standing up and sitting back down again. Eventually he gave a really large gesture and left through a portal. I stood up to follow him but somehow lost my footing. I started wobbling, like I was going to fall off the tower, and I couldn't catch my balance._

_Then it flashed to a darker setting with a stained glass platform that I was also about to fall off of. For a second, I was standing on the edge of the bright green hole outside the castle, almost falling in, but it quickly returned to the stained glass platform. I had caught my balance, but for some reason the platform was tilting. There was nothing for me to hold on to, so I started sliding. I slid all the way across the platform and then off the edge…and fell…and fell…and fell._

_After several seconds of falling there, I splashed into some sort of water and sunk through it for a while. Then, I was suddenly trapped inside Sora as he was falling out of the sky. Eventually, it returned to the clock tower. I hadn't caught my balance, and the second I returned, I tumbled off of it, falling helplessly toward the ground…_

The second before Roxas knew he would have hit the ground, he sat up in bed so quickly he fell off of it. He sat there for a while, breathing heavily, slightly shaking. Did all that stuff really happen? Quickly he came to the conclusion that he should go see Axel, since he knew he wouldn't be sleeping anyway. Roxas peeked out of his room and into the hallway, walking a few doors down to Axel's room.

As Roxas was about to knock on the door again, he thought better about it. Axel wouldn't want to be bothered two nights in a row…especially if it were only for a little nightmare. Those things probably never happened anyways. He turned away just as one of Lionel's patrol robots rounded the corner to make sure no one was roaming the hallways at night. Roxas knew he wouldn't make it back to his room before he was spotted, so he knocked softly on Axel's door.

Axel opened it just as grumpily as last time. He was about to say something when Roxas held a finger to his lip to shush him. Using gestures, he explained the robot in the hallway and that he needed in quickly. Axel grabbed him and tossed him on the floor in his room.

"What was that for?" Roxas questioned quietly from the floor.

"I have to get you back for waking me up somehow," Axel answered sleepily. "What is it this time?"

"I keep falling."

"Wha—? Like off of things?"

"Yeah…Vexen cornered me earlier and talked me into a memory dump, so he'd know everything I knew, but it's, like, making me recall all these strange memories. Most of them I remember if I think long enough, but I had this dream about falling—"

"Yea Roxas," Axel congratulated, slumping back onto his bed, "you're remembering something."

"No, you're not listening. The stuff I'm remembering is stuff I remembered all along. I don't remember falling."

"Well…" Axel tried to think of a good explanation. "Maybe the dream is the first sign that the memories are coming back to you."

"How am I supposed to know it really happened, though, if I don't remember it ever happening?"

"I suppose when you remember it, you'll know it's real."

"I don't want to remember," Roxas shouted.

"Oh, is that what's really bothering you? You didn't have to wake up the whole organization to tell me that," Axel said calmly. After a second, he wondered, "Why?"

"'Cuz we tried it before, and it didn't work."

"Who's we?" Axel questioned curiously.

"Naminé, y'know. The magic memory lady…We spent a whole week working on it, and it only brought back _one_ memory…of me fighting…Riku in the Dark City. Apparently, he beat me pretty bad and then ran away before it was finished. Anyways, the next day we were all hanging out in Sora's house, and I…just…attacked him. He packed up all his bags and left saying he was going to, 'travel the world,' and that he'd 'be back…someday.' I'd hate to think this time I'd destroy a different friendship…you know…hint, hint."

"You've got a girlfriend?" Axel guessed at what the hint was.

"No, stupid. You're my friend. What's to say that the next thing I remember won't make me want to kill you…after all, according to the dream, you're the reason I fell."

Axel thought for a very long time on what would be best to say before finally responding, "Well, I don't think you should fight me. You'd probably lose."

"Is that so?" Roxas demanded, slightly offended. "Why would I lose? I beat you last time."

"Yes, but it has been a very long time since you last fought, and…you can't remember a single thing about the time when you actually knew how to fight. Can you even still summon your Keyblades?"

"I can too," Roxas insisted, standing up with one giant key like Sora's instantly appearing in each hand.

"Okay," Axel agreed, not really wanting to fight his best friend even if he would win, "point taken. You can sit back down again."

Roxas quickly realized that he was doing exactly what he had wanted not to do and sat, frustrated, back on the floor. After a second, Axel inquired, "So Vexen got to you today?"

Roxas nodded.

"What did he do?"


	19. Chapter 18 Hayner, Pence, and Olette

The oblong table was almost completely filled. Only a few of the organization members had not yet arrived.

Larxene sat down in her seat across from Roxas as she asked, "So who was it that made breakfast this morning?"

One of the short-winded members that was already there replied, "Zexion."

A shriek of, "PANCAKES!" came from the corner seat. Everyone looked and saw Roxas covering his mouth. Yes, the shout had come from his mouth, but it had been Sora's voice. After a second, everybody went back to their own conversations, and Roxas sighed. Apparently, none of them had seen the split second where he had momentarily flashed into Sora.

_Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry…_was repeating through his head like a broken record as Sora apologized for being so stupid.

_Okay, shut up! You're sorry, I get it._

Then, a bunch of Dusks came around and served all the members pancakes. Just to be mean, Xemnas made all of the fake, replacement members sit at a different table, where they could drool and gawk over Axel all they wanted. Finally, Zexion popped out of the kitchen to take his seat next to Axel. That would make there be only two empty seats—that of Saix, who was dead, and that of Demyx, who was always late—but Xemnas stopped Zexion from sitting down.

"Number VI," he began, stopping Zexion just before he would have sat. After a pause to build tension, he continued, "Thank you for the breakfast."

Zexion sighed in relief and continued sitting as he responded, "Not a problem Superior."

Xemnas stopped him again. "Number VI…aren't you forgetting something?" Looking around the room obliviously, Zexion couldn't figure it out, so Xemnas hinted by gesturing to the corner Roxas was sitting in.

A little surprised, Zexion inquired, "Oh, you mean the—? How did you—? Never mind, I won't ask." Then, he turned to Roxas and announced across the table, "While you were busy yesterday, an old friend of yours called. He just wanted to make sure you'd gotten here all right and were adjusting well to being back. He had long hair if that helps you figure out which one."

"Warren," Roxas replied contently, with a smile. His feet couldn't reach the ground, so he swung them back and forth like an excited six year old.

Zexion once again tried to sit down and was once again halted by a single word from their boss. This time it was, "And…"

Clenching his fist in frustration because he knew it would be embarrassing, he muttered, "He asked me to give you a hug," because he also knew Xemnas would make him do it.

Roxas broke out laughing. He laughed so hard that his whole chair fell over backwards. When he hit the ground, the laughter jerked a little bit, but it didn't faze him at all. He just grabbed his sides and laughed some more. He laughed for at least fifteen seconds before he stopped long enough to stumble out, "Come…h-hug me…Pancake Boy," as he raised his hands in the air as if he was hugging someone.

"Now this I've gotta see," Xigbar mentioned from his position at the right hand of Xemnas.

Zexion looked miserably over to his Superior, hoping for a miracle, but Xemnas just waved him on. Zexion closed his eyes for a second and then slowly walked over to Roxas. When Zexion had made it to Roxas, Roxas tried to stop laughing as he crawled to his feet. Completely embarrassed, Zexion tried to build up the courage to give a fellow male a "big, squishy hug." Roxas was trying to muffle his laughter, which was now coming in bursts a couple seconds apart. Other people at the table were starting to chuckle too.

Counting to three in his head, Zexion reached his hands out to begin the hug, but then he stopped. Roxas stood there expectantly, biting his lip with a giant smile on his face. After another couple of seconds, Zexion stretched his arms out around Roxas and stepped a little closer to make it a real hug. He squished a little and held for a moment so Xemnas wouldn't make him do it again because it wasn't "squishy" enough.

Katex sent a glare over from the replacement table to Axel, and Axel uttered a small, "Squeak-oo," since Demyx wasn't there. Roxas noticed it again, and finally understood why Demyx had done it in the first place. It was a hugging noise.

Then, Roxas whispered, "Love ya Kitten," into Zexion's ear, and he pushed away real quick after that, horrified.

"You," Zexion said disgustedly as he shook his hands, but Roxas was just laughing again.

He had returned to leg smacking, rolling on the floor, type laughter, and somehow he managed to spit out, "He did call you Kitten…I…I knew it." He grabbed his sides and did return to the floor, repeating, "I knew it."

Just then Demyx walked into the room. "Did I miss something?" He asked as he heard all the laughing—which had since spread noxiously across the table—and noticed the shade of red Zexion had turned.

Zexion mumbled, "Nothing," as he wandered, obviously humiliated, back to his seat. Poor him had to sit between Axel and Vexen, though, and wouldn't hear the end of it all breakfast. It was especially bad since Demyx sat right across from Axel, and Axel recounted the entire story for him, along with a few exaggerations. At least Saix didn't know what happened.

Finally, Zexion came up with an idea of how to change the subject. He leaned over to Vexen and mentioned, "I was reading the Book of Roxas you gave me last night, and it's quite apparent, he doesn't remember a thing about us. It begins in the middle of his search for Sora and goes forward from there. It's kinda sad, though. I got to the part where he remembers waking up one morning and not remembering anything. It freaked him out pretty bad."

Axel stopped eating and listened in on their conversation as Vexen responded, "We'll have to bring him back to my laboratory today and see what we can't bring back."

Axel leaned over and suggested threateningly, "How 'bout we don't."

"You keep out of our business," Vexen ordered.

"It's not your business to mess with Roxas's memory."

"Xemnas ordered—"

"Xemnas's orders were that you determine what he knows and what he doesn't. Now that you have all that information, you have no authority to do anything to him!" Axel had started to get loud, and the entire table had grown silent.

After allowing a moment for the three to be embarrassed about making a scene, Xemnas stated bluntly, "Number VIII is correct. You cannot proceed without further discussion on the matter."

Everyone looked around for a second until they all came to the same conclusion: to portal away to the meeting room. Roxas looked around at the now-empty table and sighed. He didn't even know where they had gone.

Katex called over from the replacement table, "Aren't you going with them Roxas?"

Roxas looked at her with a confused expression. "Where'd they go?"

A handful of girls near Katex giggled uncontrollably, but Katex, who understood the problem, answered, "They all went to the meeting room to talk about you."

His shoulders slumped and he reached up to scratch his head. "The meeting room? I don't know how to get there. Can you take me there?"

That brought some more giggles from the peanut gallery, so Katex made a portal to the meeting room for him before he got too embarrassed. Roxas walked through, appearing a second later in the meeting room. He hopped up onto his tall, floating chair just as the conversation began.

"So what have your scientific inquiries uncovered? What does Roxas remember?" Xemnas questioned.

"Nothing," Zexion responded.

"Nothing?" Xaldin repeated. "I find that hard to believe."

"Wait, nothing at all, or nothing about us?" Someone else asked.

"That's not true," Demyx broke in thoughtfully. "He knew about Vexen's experiments, and he remembered Axel."

"Something has to explain how he knew Saix was the one who died," Lexaeus pointed out, contemplatively agreeing.

"And what about the pancakes?" Larxene mentioned.

"Silence!" Xemnas ordered, "This is not a mad house. I'm sure Number VI has a reasonable explanation for saying such things."

"In fact it's quite simple," Zexion replied. "You see there are two types of memory…permanent and temporary. He has nothing about us—not a single word—in his permanent memory. Everything we've heard him talk about to this point is stored in temporary memory. Which means he's been memorizing us, watching us and taking in everything he sees, and, since he knows so much, it wouldn't be illogical to assume someone's helping him."

"No," Roxas countered quietly, "I remember Axel…for real."

"He keeps insisting of that, but there's…there's nothing."

Xemnas turned to Vexen. "Is there anyway to recover the things that are missing?"

"There are things I could try," Vexen responded, slightly excited by the idea of experimenting a bit.

"Try-y?" Roxas complained, worriedly.

"It's not worth it," Axel interrupted. "It won't work. Naminé couldn't even fix it, you see? There's no point in torturing him with different recovery methods if nothing's going to come back. That will only make him hate us."

"Number VIII," Xemnas warned, "it is not your place to question the decisions of your superiors, even in matters regarding your friend…Once again, my orders will remain the same. Do what you can for Roxas…preferably by some method not involving experimentation."

Then, Xemnas portal-ed away from the meeting room, followed by most of the organization. Axel glanced over to Roxas for a second before he left, but Roxas wasn't paying any attention. Instead, Roxas was staring across the room at Vexen, trying to stay composed enough to survive another day. Eventually, he hopped miserably from his chair and wandered over to where Vexen and Zexion were waiting for him.

"Why couldn't this day have ended with the pancakes?" He wondered.

"Certainly we don't have to explain to you that every day has twenty-four hours," Vexen stated.

"No," Roxas replied grumpily, adding in his head, _I wish I could just make a portal and go home._ Suddenly, a dark circle appeared off to the side—a portal. "Whoa!" Roxas began when he noticed it. "Did I do that?"

"I know I didn't," Zexion replied. Then he looked over to Vexen who just shrugged.

Roxas pointed behind him, asking, "Could I—?"

They both just shrugged again, so Roxas cautiously stepped through the portal just to see where it would go. A second later he stepped out into his own living room.

Nori saw him first and exclaimed, "Roxas!" After that, everyone else noticed him too and repeated his name excitedly.

"Oops," Roxas mumbled.

"You're alive!" Naminé screamed in elation, running towards him.

Roxas smiled but hardly showed any signs of recognition towards them until he saw Warren. He pointed at Warren, laughed, and said, "Kitten!" Before anyone could answer, though, he thought really hard, _I want to go to…Vexen's lab,_ and as the portal appeared, he stepped through it wondering, _did I really just mean that?_

Nori looked to Warren and inquired, "What did he mean, Kitten?"

Warren looked very embarrassed as he said, "Oh, about that…"

_Then Roxas showed up before anyone else and destroyed the entire lab!_

_I don't think so Sora, _Roxas replied to Sora's crazy fantasies.

_But there's a bunch of really bad stuff in here. Remember the Heartless-mouse hybrid?_

_You heard that too? I thought I was hearing things._

_Maybe so. I think we hear the same things._

_I guess I could play with a little bit of something,_ Roxas decided, forming in his right hand one of his keyblades which he called Oblivion.

"Number XIII," came an urgent call from behind him. He turned and saw Vexen and Zexion in the doorway. The latter continued, "What are you doing?"

_Just practicing to make sure it still works,_ Sora replied instantly, so Roxas wouldn't take too long coming up with his own answer.

Roxas lowered Oblivion from its attack position replying cautiously, "Just practicing…y'know, to make sure it still works. I just found out I can still make portals, so I wanted to try it."

The two scientists looked at each other for a second as Oblivion disappeared into thin air. They weren't sure whether or not they wanted to believe him because they remembered what he did to the computers. Even if he didn't remember that, they knew he could be prone to violence. Eventually they came to the conclusion that now that they were there, he wouldn't try anything, so it didn't really matter.

They decided to proceed, and sat Roxas down in the same chair as last time. Vexen set the same machine up—the patches, the ring, and the hat—while Zexion played around with the computer, trying to find a specific setting. Pulling out a different vile with a needle, Vexen once again injected half the volume into Roxas's arm. Roxas just sat there cooperatively, wishing he were somewhere else but being careful to not make another portal.

After a second, Zexion announced, "It's working," and Vexen hurried over to the computer screen as well. Zexion described what they were seeing, saying, "This is a three dimensional scan of his brain. The part that's circled in green is what should be his memory. The part that is filled in green is what he actually has for memory."

"About half," Vexen stated, "that's not too bad."

Zexion shook his head. "It's not just 'inaccessible.' That we could work with. This is dead."

"Hmm…let me take a look…" Vexen muttered distantly as he went over to his cupboards and started rummaging again. After emptying one and not finding what he was looking for, he jumped onto the counter and started looking through a higher one. Zexion wandered over as well when Vexen started taking things out of the cupboard.

"What's this?" Zexion asked, picking up one of the bottles of pills.

"Plesexcuyaaep," Vexen replied.

Zexion grabbed a chart that was hanging on the wall and started flipping through it until he came to a page with that name on it. Reading over the page, he mentioned, "But it's still in it's last stages of approval. We don't know—"

"It's not experimental. It's as good as done," Vexen insisted.

"Side effects of memory loss?"

"Look at this one instead," Vexen suggested, shoving a different bottle in Zexion's hands.

He read the label Omxeymryexmo and then flipped to the page for that drug. "This one's side effects are: nausea, drowsiness, vomiting, fainting, lightheadedness, heavyheadedness—whatever that is—diarrhea, minor headaches, and possibly death."

"At least it's not memory loss."

Zexion gave him an annoyed glare, so Vexen handed him the next one.

"Iettsukami," Zexion described as he flipped to the page, "has side effects of…" Finally, he got to the page and read, "shrinkage of the…" He raised an eyebrow at Vexen. "Do you really want to use this?"

"Fine," Vexen replied, taking all his pills back, "if you don't like my methods, then come up with something better yourself."

After thinking for a very long time and glancing over to Roxas a couple times, Zexion just smiled.

"What?" Vexen asked, "What did you come up with? You hardly ever smile."

He didn't answer, though. He just laughed evilly. Vexen was silent for a moment, but then he laughed evilly too.

"So it's to be one of those days then, is it?" Vexen inquired.

"Back to the very beginning when this lab actually did stuff."

"Experiments?" Vexen wondered expectantly.

"No…electricity."

Roxas looked over with a very concerned look on his face. "Electricity? Xemnas said no torture."

"Ah, Xemnas said no such thing. Axel said no torture, and who is Number VIII to argue with Number IV and VI?"

"Zexion," Vexen interrupted, "what electricity?"

Zexion elbowed his side to make him shut up and then he approached Roxas, explaining, "You see, it is a long proven fact that when a person is utterly desperate, they can do the impossible…even remember things they never knew in the first place. So what do you say, Vexen, should we try it?"

"No-o," Roxas pleaded.

"Are you being uncooperative Roxas?" Zexion paused for a second. "I can understand why you're not entirely pleased with the idea, the pain and all, but it is necessary."

Zexion elbowed Vexen again, so he added reluctantly, "O-of course. Necessary."

"Nuh-uh," Roxas countered worriedly, "you haven't tried anything yet!"

"Well, I suppose there is one other thing," Zexion mentioned.

"Yes, another thing," Vexen agreed.

"Since you're being so uncooperative, we'll have to bring someone else in whose suffering can make you comply. What do you think, Vexen? Will Sora do?"

"No!" Roxas shouted, halfway because he would never want to see Sora suffer, halfway because he knew Sora was inside of him.

"No? Perhaps a certain person by the name Hayner?"

Roxas frowned. "Hayner?"

"Or Pence?"

"Pence?"

"Or Olette?"

"Olette?" The names sounded slightly familiar to Roxas, but he wasn't sure why. Suddenly, his head started pounding. He reached up to it and closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he was standing in an empty city square, but the headache hadn't gone away. Then, the ground started moving, and the air warped like he was looking at its reflection in water. He felt like he would pass out, but he resisted.

Instead he looked up and shouted, "Hayner! Pence! Olette!"

Three people—two boys and one girl—instantly appeared around him. They grabbed him by his arms and ran out of the square, leading him to the clock tower. Roxas was happy to be there because he knew where it was, and it also meant Hayner, Pence, and Olette were from Twilight Town too. He wasn't sure why, but they gave him a strange blue rock. He looked at it for a while before a voice came from some place distant.

_See, look at that. That's why I did this._

_Oh…that. That's why…what's it doing?_

_It's growing,_ the first voice said like that should have been obvious.

_Well, I knew that, but I didn't believe. You said it wasn't possible._

_I guess it is…wait what's that?_

Roxas was falling off the tower again, and once again it switched midway to the stained glass platform. He slid off of it and fell through the darkness until he could see nothing but darkness.

_Is he scared?_ One voice asked, and then Roxas fell back out of the total darkness to a dark city street.

It was raining, and Roxas sank to his knees on the mucky pavement. A silver haired boy was blindfolded, laying half dead in the street. Then, Hayner, Pence, and Olette showed up again. Olette knelt next to Roxas and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. When he looked over to her, though, Axel picked him up under his armpits and threw him over his shoulder.

"I hate the rain," Axel complained, carrying Roxas away from the mob of people that had started to form. Roxas looked back and saw every member of Organization XIII appeared through a portal, and then all his friends, and then everyone he'd ever met showed up one by one. Then, Axel passed by Demyx, ripping the Sitar from Demyx's hands.

"Stop making it rain, you obsessive water freak," Axel ordered.

"I'm not making it rain," Demyx replied when the rain didn't stop.

"Then stop indulging in the fact that you're the only one who can stand this wet."

"Whoa! Don't go all Hades on me Number VIII."

Everything went black again, Demyx echoing through his mind until the voices came back. _It's all coming back so fast. Is…Is that a bridge?_

_I believe he's creating memories to connect the old to the new._

Then Demyx came back into the dark, pushing Roxas along. "Where are we going?" Roxas asked.

"I can't tell you," Demyx answered, "it's a surprise." He had to remind Roxas, "Keep moving…a little to the left. No! Not that left! You'll fall off the bridge!" He exclaimed, grabbing Roxas's arm to keep him from falling. "Come on, we need to hurry."

A moment later, Demyx pushed Roxas to his knees on a little ledge and ripped the darkness away whispering, "Happy birthday Roxas! Now blow out the candle."

Roxas looked down below him at the unsuspecting Hades and questioned, "Wha—?"

"Hades's head…it's one giant candle. Make a wish and blow it out."

Roxas broke out laughing, stumbling out a few words like, "No? Me…really?...I can't."

"Just try…hurry, before he catches us."

Leaning over the edge, Roxas took a deep breath and tried to blow out Hades's hair. He was laughing so hard, though, that it came out more like a raspberry. That just made him laugh harder, and he tumbled off the ledge. Demyx desperately grabbed the bottom of Roxas's cloak, stopping him right at Hades's eye level.

Hades looked right at Roxas and grumbled, "You little imp." He was so angry to see Roxas and Demyx that his whole body burst into flames. Demyx pulled Roxas back up on the ledge in a hurry, while forming his Sitar in his other hand. As soon as he had his Sitar, he dowsed Hades in a shower of water and then turned to run. Roxas scrambled after him, and Hades chased them both.

A moment later, Hades changed to a flood of Heartless and Demyx turned into Saix. It was Roxas's first mission, and Saix had put him in charge of the planning. When the Heartless showed up, all Roxas could think of was to run. Saix just went along with it until they came to a dead end. Cornered between a rock a wall and a hundred Heartless, Saix once again looked to Roxas.

"What now?" He asked.

"We fight," Roxas replied; though, it seemed more like a question.

Saix waited another moment before he questioned, "And what are you going to fight with?"

"Oh yeah," Roxas remembered, forming a key between his hands and beginning to slice away at the Heartless.

After a while, the two Nobodies got separated, and Roxas was on the edge of a cliff. The Heartless were swarming him, pushing him backwards, until he tripped off it backwards. He was able to grab the edge and hold on by one hand.

"Help!" He shouted to Saix, but instead of Saix responding, the voices came back.

_It's amazing how the memory bridge is growing right over the…_

_The probe! _They both exclaimed. _It's growing right over the probe._

_We have to get the hat off before it…_

Everything went black.

_It broke._

_The probe?_

_No, the memory bridge._

_We killed the beautiful memory bridge! _He sounded like he might cry. After a moment, he calmed down and asked, _Is there any way we can rescue it?_

_I don't think so. It's bleeding all over._

_Uh…the screen shows it's spreading to other things. The whole memory's gone._

_Just the things he gained or everything?_

_Everything._


	20. Chapter 19 The Island

_Roxas,_ Sora called urgently. _Roxas wake up…Roxas are you okay?_

Another voice came from outside. "Roxas? There you are. I was beginning to wonder. We haven't seen you since breakfast yesterday." When Roxas didn't reply, the voice repeated, "Roxas?"

_Roxas! _Sora urged, _Axel's here to see you. WAKE UP!_

Roxas slowly opened his eyes to see the face of some scary looking, scrawny, redhead. "Who are you?" He asked curiously.

"Don't joke around Roxas. It's not funny," Axel replied.

"Where am I?" Roxas demanded, sitting up.

"Roxas?"

"Why do you keep calling me that?"

"Given the circumstances, I don't think it's a good idea—"

"What circumstances? You're not answering my questions. If you can't be helpful, go away."

"Okay," Axel began, very confused by the way Roxas was acting. "I'm Axel, your best friend. You're in Vexen's lab in a…dentist chair. I called you Roxas because you _are_ Roxas. And what the hell did Vexen do to you?"

A thousand new questions flashed through Roxas's mind, but Sora interrupted, _Don't worry about those. I'll answer them later._

"Who are you, and why do you keep talking to me?" Roxas questioned out loud.

Axel repeated, "I-I'm Axel…and you're my friend."

At the same time, Sora replied, _I'm…your conscience, so don't talk to me out loud._

Roxas looked intently at Axel for a moment before wondering, "My friend?...Why can't I remember anything?"

Axel clenched his fists and roared angrily through the room, "Vexen!"

Zexion sat silently pondering on the rock floor. How did that pirate get out with a paperclip? How were they going to get Roxas back together this time? They had done another memory dump on him and got nothing back. Nothing but the last three things they had said before IT happened. The occurrence was referred to as IT because they still hadn't figured out how to tell Xemnas. Zexion read another couple pages in the Book of Roxas and then looked up. He'd figured it out.

Vexen appeared, standing next to him, just as the cell door fell to pieces. "Hmm, you figured it out," he noted.

"Yes, I have," Zexion agreed.

"So how do you fix it?"

"I'll show you," Zexion replied, creating a portal and stepping through it to where they were currently holding Wesley. "A small dark hole in a mountain side with no entrance or exit. The only way in or out is through a portal and it would take at least three hundred years to dig to the nearest exit with a spoon."

"A spoon?" They both stopped for a second and just watched Wesley lie there in the dark. After a short while, Vexen commented, "So you said you had something important to tell me about IT?"

"Yes, I found out why he came back. I think you should see this." He left the room through a portal so it would be light enough to read and then turned to the page in the Book of Roxas where it read:

_Roxas came out of the room where Nehemiah had laid him rubbing his eyes and mentioned quietly, "It's not near as hard as it used to be since his castle burnt down and he moved into The Castle That Never Was."_

"_How is that possible?" Nehemiah countered, "There's all those Organization XIII people there. They could still totally kick our butts."_

_Roxas just shrugged. "I dunno."_

_Vash agreed with him, though. "Sometimes a lot of people is too many people. It becomes too easy to pretend like you belong."_

"_Well, if it's so easy now, how do you get there?" Nehemiah demanded of Roxas._

"_I dunno," was all he said._

"_Come on, you used to live there. How can you not remember how to get there?"_

"_I dunno. I just don't."_

_Suddenly Sora's voice came from the living room, "No Roxas, you could get there easily, not the rest of us."_

_Roxas jumped to the side a little, questioning, "How'd you get over there?"_

_Sora hopped onto the television and sat with his feet dangling, "We separated. Do you have a problem with that?"_

"_It just…surprised me, I guess."_

"_Well, the fact is, anyone who's been there before could get in very easily."_

"_Yeah, 'cuz they remember how to get there," Roxas mentioned. "I don't remember though."_

_Sora kind of laughed. "No, it's not that. The forest remembers you. Because you've been accepted by the forest once, it will recognize you and not try to kill you. The rest of us would all be attacked by the wild things that guard it."_

"_Right, so I can wander around in this forest for days, completely lost, and starve to death…except I can't die, so I'd just starve."_

"_Organization XIII wouldn't let that happen Roxas. If they saw you were lost in the forest, they'd come get you out…They miss you, you know."_

"_They do?" Roxas asked, instantly losing himself in thought. He was trying to remember something…anything from the Organization. "Did I really have friends over there?"_

_Sora shrugged. "Seems like it."_

_Then Roxas burst out, "But all I can remember about them is you fighting them, you calling them bad. How can I go back there like nothing ever happened, not remembering who I liked, who I hated, what I acted like…and not just call them all bad?"_

"_Just start over, like you'd never ever met them before and let the relationships develop naturally."_

"_Who's he never met?" Nori asked as he entered the room, Chiyo still clinging to him._

"_Organization XIII," Vash answered, a little confused by the conversation._

_Nori frowned, knowing that Roxas had too met Organization XIII before. "No," he countered, "Roxas you used to live with them."_

"_And wouldn't it be a great idea if we sent him back?" Sora questioned from the television. Roxas just shook his head no, trying to get Nori to respond that way. After a second of waiting for Nori's blank stare of confusion to go away, Sora continued, "Tia might be there, you know, and we can't get there and look for her all in one trip without dying. It makes much more sense that we send him—who's been there before—to find her, and then once he has, we can plan how to break her out quickly, so less people get hurt."_

_Nori shrugged. "Sounds good to me."_

"_No!" Roxas countered. Then, he started trying to come up with other excuses. "But it's dark over there! What if I spend a couple weeks in the darkness and decide I don't want to come back? That might happen. Then, you destroyed me!"_

"_I'm gonna go take a shower now," Nori said, really ignoring the issue. Chiyo let go of Nori's hand as he walked toward the bathroom. Jokingly he inquired, "What? You don't want to come with me anymore?"_

_Sora just kept trying to convince Roxas. "I'll give you my phone. If you start to feel like you can't handle something, just call, and we'll come get you immediately."_

_And after a little while, Warren showed up with Dusty. When they did, they saw Roxas sitting on the floor in the living room trying his best not to cry as he said, "But…I don't want…to go…to the Castle…That Never Was."_

_Warren immediately took his place on the couch—that had been returned to its proper location—and concernedly asked, "What is going on?"_

_Vash and Nehemiah explained the whole thing and ended with, "We still haven't convinced him."_

"_That's because I'm not going," Roxas insisted._

_Warren leaned back on the couch, letting everything register, before he said, "You can't convince him to do it if he doesn't want to."_

"_What?" Sora asked in shock. "You're the only one who hasn't agreed with us."_

"_That's because I'm the only other one that's been on that side of the Outlands!" Warren replied harshly. "It's not as easy of a life as you may think…You realize, chances are, the moment he gets over there, he'll immediately rejoin the organization—not just in pretend, but because you just can't help being evil. He won't find Tia Dalma, and if…in the rare occasion that he does find her, he won't tell you."_

"_Well, why didn't you say that?" Nehemiah asked Roxas._

"_I don't remember that," Roxas answered, slightly embarrassed. "I just know I don't like."_

_A second later, Warren added, "But it is a good idea." Roxas looked at Warren in shock. His last source of support was gone._

_When everyone looked to Warren for an explanation, he continued, "If you were just asking him to go into the forest—or one of the cities of the forest—I would support your idea one hundred percent…granted that someone went with him. Because together, there's a certain element of peer pressure…a dare that passes around among friends to see who can cross the furthest back into the light without getting sucked into its grasp. We could bet each other that the other one wouldn't be able to find Tia Dalma…taunt one another until one of us did something we would get in trouble for—like breaking her out of jail. But if you're asking him to find her in The Castle That Never Was, no one can go with him."_

_Everyone was quiet for a moment, trying to find a way around this new obstacle. Becca wandered into the house just in time to hear Sora volunteer, "I'll go with him."_

"_Where are we going?" She asked._

"_Not you," Sora corrected, "just me and Roxas because I can combine with him again and no one will know I'm there."_

"_What do you mean you guys can combine?" Becca questioned, still confused._

_They just ignored her, and Warren crossed the room to kneel next to Roxas inquiring, "Can you do it now Roxas? If Sora goes with you?"_

"_Is it that important?" He wondered quietly._

"_It's that important…it's the only way."_

"_And he'll bring me back?"_

"_He'll bring you back," Warren reassured._

_Roxas silently stood and approached Sora who hopped off the television. "You're going then?" Sora asked, jokingly poking Roxas in the nose._

_Roxas grumpily returned the gesture, smashing Sora's nose as he reluctantly agreed, "I guess."_

_A silence filled the room with expectation as Sora and Roxas just looked at each other. After a second, Roxas started fading and became transparent like Nori had been when he was dead. That worried Becca and Dusty who had seen him like that, but they didn't get a chance to express their concerns. He went all sparkly and disappeared for a moment before taking over Sora like he had a thousand times. Then, where there was once two, stood just Roxas._

Vexen's expression slowly grew more and more shocked until, by the end, he had reached horrified. "Roxas," he muttered in a daze, "how could he?"

"We have to tell the Superior," Zexion stated.

"What do you have to say to me Number VI?" Xemnas's voice demanded just before he suddenly appeared from a portal with Xaldin at his side.

Zexion stood there silently, as if reading the rest of Roxas's life had made him rethink tattling just yet. Suggesting it was different from actually doing it.

Vexen was angry enough to not think twice about it, announcing, "It's Roxas Sir. He truly is a traitor. He's only here to destroy us."

"Is this true Number VI?" Xemnas asked, only because Zexion seemed to have a look of protest.

"Yes," he replied softly after a second. Xemnas turned and started walking toward the laboratory. "N-now's not a good time," Zexion insisted, knowing the last they saw of Roxas he was lying there unconscious, knowing absolutely nothing.

"It's never too soon to dispense of a traitor," Xemnas answered, continuing to walk. Xaldin went with him at first, but then he turned back silently questioning why Zexion and Vexen weren't coming.

Zexion reluctantly followed, as did Vexen who elbowed his fellow intellectual, whispering, "What is wrong with you?"

Mumbling through his teeth, Zexion replied, "Now, he's gonna find out we broke him."

"Well, it was your idea to tell him in the first place."

"Not now."

"What are you two whispering about back there?" Xaldin questioned.

They didn't answer. They just didn't say another word until they reached the lab.

Roxas fell to his knees, clutching his ears, and shouted, "Stop talking! You're so loud!"

Sora whispered softly back, _I told you not to talk to me out loud. I can hear what you think._

"Stupid conscience!"

"What the hell Roxas?" Axel demanded, confused.

"Not you, the voice in my head is so loud."

"The voice in his head?" Xemnas questioned quietly from the doorway.

"It's Sora," Zexion replied.

"What?" Axel, Xemnas, and Xaldin asked in shock.

"Sora is inside of Roxas, helping him through every step of the way to search for Tia Dalma in our castle."

Roxas looked down at his chest as if he was searching for someone inside of him and then back to Zexion. "Who?"

Xemnas ordered Xaldin, "Restrain him; then, question him. I would like to see Sora in our prison by nightfall."

Axel still had that confused look implanted on his face, so Zexion handed him the Book of Roxas commenting, "Read this. It will all make sense then."

Axel started just a tad bit too soon in the book, where Roxas was inside of Sora jumping on the bed shouting, "Nori!" When he got to the right part, however, he was even more upset than Vexen had been. Xaldin had gotten Roxas restrained; though, it was harder than he had expected because Roxas was scared. He didn't recognize Xaldin and didn't understand what was going on.

The first thing Xaldin asked was, "Who do you think you are, coming here looking for Tia Dalma?"

Raising one eyebrow, Roxas responded, "Who's Tia Dalma?...And I think I'm Roxas; I'm not sure, though."

"Don't mock us Roxas. We made you everything you are, and is this how you repay us?"

"You also made him everything he is _not_," Roxas argued, but it wasn't his voice. Suddenly Roxas faded into Sora, who continued arguing for Roxas because Roxas was too confused to do himself justice, "Thanks to those two over there," he pointed to Zexion and Vexen, "he has absolutely nothing. He has no idea he's looking for Tia Dalma anymore. He has no memories of me, no memories of you, no memories of Axel…no memories of _breakfast_ yesterday."

Xaldin angrily grabbed Sora by the throat, but Sora just laughed, "You can't get me out of Roxas. You don't know how." Then, Sora faded back into Roxas, and Xaldin realized he was choking Roxas.

Xaldin let go of Roxas but furiously demanded, "Get out of there Sora!"

Roxas looked at him in surprise and said softly, "Y-you can't have my conscience. It's mine. He hasn't answered my questions yet."

"Your conscience?"

"Roxas has been quite confused for some time now," Vexen mentioned, "that's what we've been telling you all along."

"I think it's getting worse."

"No," both Vexen and Zexion insisted at the same time.

Axel looked up from the paper and countered, "Yes, it is much worse. Before he would have at least been able to admit to the horrible thing he's done. Instead, now I had to stand here listening to him ask me who Sora was, while Sora just sits inside him scoffing at us. And to think, I was actually beginning to believe you cared when you said you wanted us all to get our hearts together. I'll tell you one thing: I'm not flattered anymore!"

Axel had been moving gradually closer to Roxas, and when he shouted that last sentence, his circular weapon—a chackram—appeared in his hand. Roxas ducked in fear as it sliced across his chest. Then, he looked down, surprised that he wasn't dead, and watched as a small blob representing a heart floated away. A second later, a lifeless Sora slowly fell to the ground. Roxas just stood there, shocked by the occurrences.

After waiting a second to let everything sink in, Xaldin stated, "You weren't supposed to kill him."

Letting his chackram just disappear, Axel walked away replying, "Yeah, yeah…at least now he won't bother us anymore."

"Are we just to leave Roxas in here?" Vexen questioned as Xemnas also turned to leave.

Xemnas stopped, pondered, and responded, "Send him to the Island," before continuing out the door.

"The Island!" Vexen and Zexion both exclaimed in shock.

"What island?" Roxas wondered curiously.

"The Island," Vexen explained.

"_The_ Island?"

"_The _Island," Xaldin assured.

"No," Demyx insisted, suddenly bursting into the room, "not _the_ Island!"

"Don't burst into conversations you know nothing about," Xaldin ordered.

"I know what's goin' on. I've been listening to the whole conversation from the hallway."

Xaldin put his hands on his hips and then gestured out. "Then, why should we not exile the traitor?"

"Because he doesn't know that he did it," Demyx replied intelligently.

"But you have no problem taking Heartless to kill hundreds of innocent people who don't know they ever did anything to wrong you," Xaldin argued.

Demyx was very confused for a second before mentioning, "They didn't."

"My point exactly…Roxas did do something against us. Why should he not be punished?"

"Because he used to be one of us."

"Doesn't that make it worse, knowing he did it willingly even though he used to be one of us?"

"No, because he didn't really know he used to be one of us. And if you spent an entire year with someone who constantly told you you were bad when you didn't know better, you'd probably help him take you out too."

"That didn't make sense," Zexion whispered to Vexen.

Vexen whispered back, "I think he's trying to tell us he's a traitor too."

"I am not…just—" Demyx started, but he trailed off at the end.

"I understand. You're pretending to have a heart by mercifully giving Roxas a second chance," Xaldin mocked sarcastically.

"Actually, it's a third chance," Vexen corrected.

"Too bad our superior already made his decision," Xaldin laughed. "Roxas can come back afterwards…if he survives."

"He won't survive by himself out there! He can't remember anything but his name!"

"Then, if you don't want him to go alone, why don't you go with him?"

"What?" Demyx questioned in shock, but he didn't get to protest because a second later, both him and Roxas were on the Island. Demyx casually looked around, his glance stopping at Roxas. Roxas was still tied to a small, sturdy machine with some leather strips Xaldin had found laying around the lab. Urgently, Demyx tried to untie them, commenting, "We've gotta get you outta this."

He hadn't even finished the first one when, a moment later, Roxas asked, "What's that?"

Demyx looked behind him to what Roxas was referring to and exclaimed, "Gaah! Why are the Heartless here?" He turned back to Roxas and ordered, "You wait here for a minute…not like you could go anywhere anyways."

Reaching an arm into the sky, Demyx created his Sitar just as the little black creatures began multiplying, appearing in every which direction. He played a couple notes, at first just to defend himself and his friend against the Heartless, setting up around them a circle of Dusks and making a couple attacks. When he was sure he had things under control, he sent out a couple sharp musical notes to cut the ties around Roxas's hands.

Roxas fell to the ground, examining his free hands and everything Demyx had created. Turning to his protector, Roxas wondered, "Cool, did you do all that?"

Demyx sent out another round of Dusks so he could kneel next to Roxas and help him up. "Yup, and you can too…sorta."

"Really? How?" Roxas asked excitedly.

"You don't remember your keyblade?" Demyx questioned just to be sure.

Roxas just shook his head.

Demyx picked up two sticks from the ground and put one in each of Roxas's hands saying, "Use these as your swords."

"Will these actually kill those?" Roxas inquired, indicating the Heartless.

"Oh, yeah, it'll work just fine…now come on, let's try to head that way." Demyx pointed directly ahead of them.

They headed off, through the Heartless. At first, Demyx had to do all the defending. After a couple seconds, Roxas finally tried to slash at a little black creature with his left stick. Halfway through the attack, however, both sticks turned into his two keyblades. Surprised by it, he dropped them both to the ground and they disappeared.

Demyx laughed at him. "That's what was supposed to happen. I told you you could do it."

Roxas smiled. It was halfway between an embarrassed smile and being frustrated out of his mind about the memory thing. Demyx kicked a new stick off the ground, and Roxas caught it with both hands.

"Now try it again…and don't be afraid of it this time."

As told, Roxas tried cutting away at another Heartless. As the Heartless dissolved into a cloud of black dust, Roxas admired the key he held between his hands. He was quickly brought back to reality when the next Heartless tried to attack him, and he had to defend himself. It didn't take him too long to get the hang of using his key again. After all, he still had his muscle memory. After a little while, he felt comfortable pulling out his second key—which looked much neater. Then, he was unstoppable, as he destroyed hoards of Heartless.

Roxas was exhausted by the time enough were gone that they could run away. Demyx grabbed his hand and dragged him towards a group of trees that would provide some protection. When he knew the Heartless weren't following them anymore, he stopped. Both of them collapsed to the ground, trying to catch their breath.

After a second, Roxas reformed his black key in his hand and examined its every detail commenting, "That was awesome!"

"Glad you thought so," Demyx responded. "I hate fighting…You did really well, though. I wasn't expecting you to pick back up on it that quickly."

"You mean I used to do this all the time," Roxas realized.

Demyx shrugged, "Kinda." He stood up, refreshed enough to continue on, and suggested, "We should keep going. The sooner we find our way out of here the better…plus, less things will attack us if we keep moving, I think."

Roxas stood and followed. For a while they walked on in silence because neither of them could think of anything to talk about, and because Roxas was still marveling at his key.

Eventually, Roxas decided to say, "Thank you…for coming with me. I think I'd be dead by now without you."

At that exact moment, a couple dozen cannibalistic looking natives appeared out of the trees. Demyx looked around at them and replied, "Don't thank me yet. I think we may still die." As the Sitar reappeared in his hand, Demyx muttered, "Where are those Heartless when you need them?"

"What do you mean by that?" Roxas whispered.

"The Heartless…they attack people and take their hearts. They'd help us rid ourselves of this nuisance."

Roxas nodded for a second before inquiring, "So what are we gonna do without them?" Demyx thought for a while. He was taking too long, and the natives weren't going to just stand around waiting for them to form a plan. One of them pulled out a poison dart gun and prepared to shoot at the two Nobodies. Roxas shouted, "Look out!" and jumped in front of Demyx, somehow blocking the dart with his key.

He was excited that it had worked, but a second later all the natives had poison dart guns or archery bows. Demyx rushed to his feet, surrounding himself and Roxas in a giant bubble and pointing to the right.

"Go that way," he ordered.

"Okay," Roxas agreed, automatically going the other direction.

Demyx followed so he could stay in the bubble, demanding, "What are you doing? This is not what I said."

"Well, I figured you meant we should go this way and you just didn't want the cannibals to know your plan."

"No!"

A second later, they plowed right into one of the cannibals. All three toppled to the ground, and the bubble popped. They were out of the circle, though, which was a good thing. Roxas and Demyx were instantly to their feet, sprinting at full speed away from the pursuing natives. They were somehow managing to stay just out of reach. Demyx slid to a stop at the edge of a river while Roxas was watching behind them. Roxas, not knowing Demyx had stopped, ran into him, and they both fell into the river.

Demyx came back to the surface of the fast moving water and realized that Roxas hadn't. He swam down to search for him. Eventually, he found Roxas and grabbed the boy, pulling him to the surface. Roxas gasped desperately, flailing his arms around.

"Don't tell me you don't remember how to swim," Demyx complained.

"Swim?" Roxas asked, "Is that what this is called?"

Demyx just sighed and let the river push them downstream, away from the natives. It was nice to think about nothing but holding Roxas's head above water for a while. It was short lived, though, as a moment afterwards two boats of natives appeared—one downstream heading up and one upstream heading down. They were trapped.

Quietly Demyx ordered, "Take a deep breath and hold it. Plug your nose," and he dove under water. He swam under the boat that was downstream. It was trying to turn around because the natives realized what he was trying to do, but they couldn't navigate as fast as he could swim. He ducked into a small, swampy creek that split off from the river and finally took into consideration Roxas's desperate pounding on his chest from lack of air. Roxas gasped again as they resurfaced.

"That's not nice!" Roxas protested.

"Yeah," Demyx agreed, "but we lost them." He gestured to the two boats which had accidentally t-boned.

They swam slowly through the murky water for quite some time before they came across a small shack along the bank and Roxas wondered, "Do you think we should stop there?"

"I don't see why not," Demyx answered. "It's getting late and that will give us shelter for the night. It doesn't look like those cannibals would live in a house like that."

Demyx looked around it for a while, but there didn't seem to be an entrance. For some reason he looked under the water and happened to notice a small hole in the wall of the shack just big enough for one person to fit through. He tried going through it, and, sure enough, it lead to the inside of the shack. Excitedly, he went back to the surface where he had left Roxas and brought Roxas to the hole, shoving him through. Roxas crawled out of the hole to the floor of the shack as Demyx swam through.

Suddenly, a small, teenage boy with big ears on top of his head and a sword as tall as he was, stood in front of them, making a noise which seemed to be a growl.


	21. Chapter 20 God, I'm not dead yet?

Hallom looked down on the two trespassers and thought only one thing: _Lionel said no one was to come in here._ He reached his katana above his head to attack one of the two, and instantly found himself drenched in water. Just because of instinct, his ears laid back and a small whine uttered from his throat. He quickly shook it off, though, and went to attack again. This time it was a series of sharp musical notes that started poking and prodding him. Like little bugs, he swatted and snapped at them at first, but when one hurt enough to make him yelp, Hallom got serious.

I came running when I heard him yelp, asking, "Are you okay Hallom?" By the time I got there, however, he had gotten rid of all the musical notes and had his katana at Demyx's neck. Right away I saw Roxas standing in the corner with his keyblade, and I ran to him, throwing my arms around him in a huge hug. "Roxas! You have no idea how happy I am to see you!"

He looked almost as frightened as Hallom had been the first time I hugged him, so I stepped away.

Then I noticed he was wearing a black cape like Demyx next to him. "Did you…go back to Organization XIII? Did something go really wrong with Nori?"

Roxas shook his head, but it wasn't a definitive "no." It was more of just a sign of his confusion, just like the way he tried to speak but no words came out.

"Hey…lady," Demyx said, trying to get my attention, "Sora's friend. Some help would be nice."

I looked over to Hallom, who was still pinning Demyx to the wall, and told him, "It's okay."

"Y-you know them?" Hallom asked, slightly moving the katana.

I nodded. "They're okay."

"T-the king, he said…no one's to be here."

"Oh, Lionel," Demyx interrupted, "I work for him."

"Don't worry Hallom, they won't stay. I just need to know what's wrong with Roxas and find out how Nori's doing," I assured.

"Uh…you can't really talk to him right now," Demyx explained. "He's kinda going through a mid-life crisis. I can try to answer all your questions."

Hallom sheathed his katana as I asked, "What happened to him?"

"Vexen killed his memory. He don't remember a thing."

"So he doesn't even know who I am anymore?"

"No," Demyx agreed, "and yeah, he did try to rejoin the Organization, but it was all for show just so he could look for Tia Dalma. It was Sora's idea, and the stupid kid came with him. Nori's still fine, I think, 'cuz I heard the Superior ranting about him the other day."

"Well, Roxas, Tia Dalma's here," I announced.

"We're not here to get her," Demyx insisted. "We're here because he got in trouble for trying to find her, and if we leave this building—with or without her—we'll most likely die."

"Why am I looking for her anyways? It…seems…to be a…problem," Roxas inquired, confused.

Demyx gestured to me because I was the only one who'd know the answer to that, so I answered, "Because she's the queen of the land, and Lionel locked her up here so she couldn't protect her people from him. Nori was looking for her at first, but I guess you offered to help him."

"Well, we should help her then, right?" Roxas decided unsurely, "She…she's the good person."

Demyx looked in shock to Roxas. "You can't even remember who Tia Dalma is, and you're already ready to risk your life for her? Dang that power of good."

Roxas pouted, which made me pout, begging Demyx to help us. Hallom smiled to see the way the two of us were affecting Demyx. He was starting to shift uncomfortably, trying to not give into the pressure. If Roxas could remember, he would have been reminded of when Warren said, _Because together, there's a certain element of peer pressure… We could bet each other that the other one wouldn't be able to find Tia Dalma…taunt one another until one of us did something we would get in trouble for—like breaking her out of jail,_ because Demyx was about to give in.

He tried looking away, but it didn't help. Eventually, he sighed, "Oh, why not. Lionel's been oppressing us, his own people, too."

"Yes!" Roxas and I both exclaimed excitedly, Roxas adding, "So…what do we do?"

"There's no way out of here…believe me, we've tried," I mentioned, gesturing to Hallom.

Demyx smiled like he knew a secret no one else knew of and stated, "Watch this." He pointed next to him, and everyone watched expectantly. Nothing happened, so Demyx threw his hand out to the side. Still nothing happened. He started waving his hands up and down like some Egyptian enchanter, and it still didn't do what he wanted it to do. He even added humming and shouted, "Open…sesame!"

After a couple seconds, I curiously wondered, "What are you doing?"

"Crap," he muttered to himself, snapping his fingers, "now I remember we can't make portals here. Of course, that would make things too easy." Looking up at me and slumping to the floor, he commented, "Well then, I'm outta ideas. Seems, we'll just be stuck here with you."

Demyx didn't move from that position for a very long time. Even when Hallom appeared with the allotted food for three, and we divided in five equal parts, Roxas had to come get Demyx's share for him. Roxas slid back to the floor, handing one of his two bowls of grub to Demyx.

Reluctantly accepting the bowl, Demyx mumbled, "I don't know why I stood up for you. I never really have before."

"I think," Roxas replied encouragingly, "it's because Axel wasn't anymore, and you felt bad that my friend left me."

"Zexion was right to say you memorize us quickly…but I can't feel bad; we don't have hearts." Demyx said that last part in rote, almost as if he didn't really believe it, but had been told so many times, it had to be true.

"W-we don't?" Roxas questioned, holding his hand over his chest, stunned.

Demyx didn't really answer. Instead, he took a bite of the soup and then noticed something strange on the floor. When Roxas sat down, one of his shoes had fallen halfway off, and neither of them had noticed until then, but a picture was hanging out the back.

Pointing to it, Demyx asked, "What's that?"

Roxas reached toward it in surprise, and examined the picture before shrugging. "I dunno. Me," he replied, referring to the middle person. Then, he turned the picture over to the back and read, "Nori and Warren…call us, and a smiley face."

Demyx grabbed the picture from Roxas and laughed slightly. "Them? You're looking for them. Call them, I'm sure they'll help."

"Call them what?"

"With a phone, y'know?"

"I don't…have one of those. I don't think—"

"I don't think they would have asked you to call them if you didn't Roxas."

Roxas felt around and found the pockets in his cloak. Pulling everything out of them, he found five things. Immediately he tossed two to the side, saying, "Not dirty tissue…One of those things those people were shooting at us," he threw away a poison dart. Then, he picked up a strange, blue stone, looked through it, and asked, "Is this a phone?"

"Uh…no," Demyx answered, trying to not make fun of Roxas.

"This then?" Roxas concluded, holding up the last object, which was Sora's red video phone.

"Yeah," Demyx agreed. "Now look for Nori's name in this list," he explained, pushing one button to get Roxas to the contacts list.

At first, Roxas was very slow at pushing the buttons, so it took him a very long time to find the name, but when he finally did, he inquired, "So I push…call?"

Demyx nodded once.

Obediently, Roxas pushed the button. The phone made a ringing sound two times and then the boy from the picture appeared on the screen greeting, "Yo, Roxas, wuz uh?"

Roxas went back to shaking his head in his confused, "aren't I supposed to remember you?" kind of way. Again, he tried to speak but no words came out. He just sat there, stuttering over the word "hello."

Concerned, Nori questioned, "Roxas…are you okay?"

Actually meaning "no" this time, Roxas continued shaking his head but still said nothing.

"Roxas, do you need us to come get you? Is something not right?"

After it had been almost a whole minute of no conversation, Demyx heard a noise in the other room of the shack. Someone had shown up. Urgently, he grabbed the phone and said bluntly, "Hey, Nori right? Sorry to interrupt that lovely conversation, but we've run out of time. Yes, Roxas needs you to come get him. Yes, we do happen to know exactly where Tia Dalma is, and we're sending you her coordinates right now. Hang up when you get them." Then, he stuffed the phone back in Roxas's pocket.

Nori stumbled excitedly out of the shower and pulled on his pants without drying off, and without clean underwear. Then, he threw on a baseball cap backwards that Nehemiah had been trying to get him to take out of the bathroom for a week, and ran into the living room topless. He went straight to the map on the kitchen counter and marked an 'X' slightly to the left of the city Warren used to live in.

"Tia Dalma's there," he announced, "and Roxas needs out. We'll have to split in two groups. The group going to the Castle That Never Was can follow the road, so Dusty will have to accompany them—since she's the only one who's figured it out—but the other group will have to face the real horrors of the forest—which means Nehemiah should probably go with them since he seems to not have any particular strengths or weaknesses. I want to get Roxas because something's really wrong with him."

"I'm coming with you," Warren insisted.

"NO!" Nori countered. "You can't go in the forest, you'll kill someone. That darkness—"

"I'm the reason Roxas left, remember? I couldn't possibly stay here and wait, not now that you've told me he's in trouble."

"I understand, I really do. But I can't take you with me. There's no way you could withstand the dark side of your heart. That's your weakness you know, and the forest knows how to use that against you."

"And your weakness is your ability to say no," Warren noted.

A couple seconds later, Nori sighed, "Only if Kairi comes with us too. She's the only one who's ever been able to keep you slightly under control, and Naminé is the only one who can get into the castle."

"Um…Nori," Chiyo pointed out quietly, "the twins came down with a horrible case of the flu this morning. They won't be able to get out of bed."

Nori frowned, asking himself why the plan had to already be falling to pieces from the beginning, but then turned to Warren and repeated, "No. You're not coming with me. Vash, come to the castle…"

Vash shook his head slightly, "Sorry kid, I've got to get back to Japan and fix up that hiding place we talked about for Tia once you get her back. You'll have to choose someone else."

Confused, and out of ideas, Nori looked to Chiyo for ideas. She just shrugged and responded, "You know who wants to go with you."

Turning to Warren, Nori explained, "You have no idea how much I want you to go with me, but you can't. It's not safe…you know that. I can't keep you from hurting yourself."

"Ah, but you don't know where the invisible road starts. Only I know that," Warren pointed out with satisfaction. He knew he'd won.

Demyx had been correct in thinking the noise in the other room was someone new. A couple seconds later the newcomer pushed past me into their room. It brought Roxas out of his petrified, I can't remember Nori, daze, and both exiles looked up at the intruder. The person had come for them, and Demyx knew it. Roxas, on the other hand, didn't. He just looked down at himself and Demyx and then back to the new figure. All three were wearing the same cloak, so they were friends, right?

"Yo bud, wuz up?" Roxas greeted, copying the way Nori had started the phone call.

The blonde female raised one eyebrow at Roxas and then turned her attention to Demyx, nodding her head in recognition as she simply stated his name.

Demyx returned the gesture, responding, "Larxene."

Referring to Roxas, Larxene mentioned, "He's lost more than I imagined."

"So you didn't actually believe them when they told you he'd forgotten _everything_?"

"You know how Vexen has been known to exaggerate in the stories he tells."

"Well enough of this then," Demyx decided. "What are you here for, so I can give it to you and you can leave?"

Larxene clicked her tongue. "Sadly, it won't work that way. You know the rules. One can take no shelter on the Island."

"Oh, I always thought those were things you couldn't _bring_," Demyx noted in realization. He stood up, agreeing, "In that case, we'll just leave."

"Not so fast," Larxene said, stopping Demyx in his tracks. "The phone."

"What phone?" Demyx inquired slowly, trying to sound like he was certain they didn't have one.

"I've played against you enough times to call your bluff Number IX. Hand over the phone."

"I don't have one," Demyx insisted.

"I have one!" Roxas added excitedly, taking it out of his pocket and holding it out for Larxene to see. "Why? Do you want to call someone?"

Demyx sighed as Larxene took the phone from Roxas's hand, once again thinking, _Dang that power of good. He's like Sora now, doesn't doubt anybody._

"You sent your coordinates to that Nori kid?" Larxene realized as she flipped through call history.

"No? What?" Demyx replied, looking over her shoulder as if he didn't expect it.

"Yup," Roxas answered naively.

It took Demyx a second to come up with an explanation for that, but soon he answered, "Oh, that…It was an accident. Nori called Roxas, and he couldn't remember how to answer the phone, so he just started pressing buttons, and that happened, and then he hung up. Nori probably doesn't even know he got it."

One of the knives that Larxene customarily held between her fingers, instantly extended itself toward the side of Demyx's bottom jaw and the air seemed to fill with an impeding thunderstorm as she demanded, "Then why did the conversation last a minute? Have you turned against us too?" She threw Demyx to the floor, a bolt of lightning in the very room—which somehow caused no damage—adding to the fury of her demand.

I let out a small whimper in fear from the doorway as Hallom prepared himself to fight for the people aiding in his escape, but, as usual, Tia Dalma did her part in keeping us well away from the danger. As well as she could, she ushered us away like chicks from an approaching hawk, leaving Demyx and half of Roxas to fend for themselves against the ferocious rage of betrayal.

Roxas hurriedly climbed to his feet, forming both of his keyblades at once to defend himself commenting, "I thought you were our friend."

"There was a time that I didn't hate you like I do now," she responded as her other five knives appeared between the rest of her fingers, and the thickening storm hastened the coming of night.

Demyx also stood up, creating his Sitar as he noted, "So you're the one who sent those Heartless after us."

"Well, it wasn't my fault you were standing in their way; though, I didn't expect either of you to put up quite so much of a fight. For having forgotten everything, Roxas, you certainly did learn how to fight quickly, but you'll never be able to defeat me…ever…again." Larxene laughed as she took a swipe at him.

Frightened, Roxas held the darker keyblade in front of his face to block the blow, noticing the wrong part of the sentence, and stating with a smile, "So I've beat you once before? You just doubled my confidence." Then, he looked at the dark keyblade and announced, "I, Roxas Something-or-Other, henceforward call you Oblivion. Now, obliterate!"

He slashed back at Larxene, and she easily dodged it. He attacked a few more times—all easily evaded by Larxene—until he finally hit her once by throwing the keyblade at her. Feigning pain and anger at the same time, she grr-ed and flung a bolt of lightning at Roxas. He called his keyblade back to deflect it, or would have if it had been deflectable. Turns out, the lightning hit the keyblade Oblivion and flowed without resistance into his arms. Roxas fell to his knees, clutching his gut, as the keyblade dissipated.

Larxene prepared to strike again at the now weakened Roxas, but Demyx suddenly split into his twenty varieties, forming a protective circle around Roxas. "Of course he can't beat you; he could hardly hold his own against the Heartless!" All twenty of them exclaimed.

Annoyed, Larxene put one hand on her hip and complained, "This game is so old Demyx. You know I can find you." She started walking around the circle, examining each copy. "Don't make me search."

All the clones faded back into one across the circle from her, and the real Demyx pointed to her saying, "Then fight me and not him."

Larxene smiled. "With pleasure."

Demyx made the first attack, sending out a series of attack bubbles and making a geyser shoot out of the ground. Larxene jumped to the side without difficulty, slicing through the bubbles with her kunai.

As all the water congregated between the two of them, Larxene laughed slightly. "That wasn't your brightest idea. I control electricity…your water would serve as a wonderful amplification to my powers."

Slightly concerned and really confused, Demyx looked at the puddle of water as the entire room filled with electrical charges. A couple minutes later, Larxene left the room, fully satisfied with the job she had done. After all, she hadn't been instructed to kill them quickly. Nothing prevented her from finishing the job some other time. For the moment, she knew they were bloodied and bruised enough to stay away from the prison shack. Plus, there was something significantly more urgent to tend to.

Pulling out Roxas's red video phone, she called the castle and relayed the message. Nori and his friends knew where Tia Dalma was and would soon be coming after her. Xigbar said he'd get right on it and sent Lexaeus with Marluxia to take care of it. Unfortunately, by the time they'd portaled into Sora's house—now Nehemiah's by default since Sora was dead—the heros had already left. The two Nobodies ransacked the place, left a small pot of carnations as an indication of who did it—Marluxia's idea, of course—and hurried to follow them towards the forest.

Meanwhile, back in the castle, Zexion had once again hi-jacked Vexen in the hallway for a new memory experiment. As they walked, he explained his theory on why Roxas had actually started to regain his memory during the procedure. "You see the idea came to me while I was reading the Book of Roxas, the section where he actually lost his memory. One night his friends Hayner, Pence, and Olette had come to visit. The next morning, they were the first things he saw, and he had no clue who they were. It suffices to say that: they were the last thing he forgot and the first thing he remembered…on the border, so to speak. Coupled with a dangerous threat, I believe those two things can bring any memory back."

After listening intently to the whole explanation, Vexen nodded and asked, "And you say you have the perfect test subject?"

"I do," Zexion assured, opening a portal and gesturing that Vexen go through first.

They came out the other side, once again in Wesley's dark cell. Vexen was surprised at first, but Zexion clarified, "He's missing two years of his life. At least, that's what that replacement Katex told me."

"Well, I hate to spoil the fun," Vexen mentioned, "since I don't think I've ever seen you enjoy yourself quite so much, but…"

"What?" Zexion questioned.

"He's dead."

"What? Who killed him?"

"Am I supposed to ask him that?" Vexen inquired sarcastically.

After a second, Zexion suggested, "Then, I guess that only leaves us one option."

"What would that be?"

"Miracle Max."

"Miracle Max? You mean that old geezer from the Princess Bride?"

"Yes, that one," Zexion agreed. "He saved Wesley's life once before."

"Uh…" Vexen tried to figure out how to explain. "I believe that was a different Wesley…in fact, a West-ly, who was quite a bit older."

"Well, nonetheless, he's proven he can bring people back from the dead. Isn't it worth a try?"

Vexen didn't know what to say, but eventually he shrugged and replied, "Why not?"

So they dragged Wesley down to a land called Pomisco where this Miracle Max lived and knocked on his door. Max opened a small window in the door to his shack and called out, "What do you want?" before he looked and saw who it was at his door. When he noticed the two cloaked men, he commented, "Oh, you're the king's men? In that case, bug off, and take your stupid taxes with you!" Then, he threw a small bag of money at them and shut the window again.

Cautiously, Vexen knocked again, and Max threw the window open demanding, "What?!"

They stood Wesley up between the two of them as Vexen explained, "We've got a dead guy for you."

"Oh, in that case, let's take a look at him."

He opened the door and directed the two Nobodies to lay Wesley on the kitchen table. He examined Wesley, moving the head back and forth quickly and picking up the hands just to drop them again. After pounding him once on the stomach, Max decided, "He's only slightly dead. It should be easy to fix. How much can you pay me?"

Both Zexion and Vexen emptied their pockets and managed to scrounge together hardly anything. "Three munny."

"Three munny? I used to charge that just to diagnose the patient."

"What could you possibly say? They're all dead," Zexion pointed out.

Max responded, "There's a big difference between slightly dead, as this boy is, partly dead, mostly dead, and all dead. This I can still salvage…if you have the correct payment."

Zexion and Vexen looked at each other, asking the other if they should, and Vexen decided to toss the tax money back to Max. Max looked at it for a while, and then agreed, "This will work. Now, it's simply a matter of pumping the air back into his lungs." He grabbed some strange tool that looked like it might clean a chimney, stuck it inside Wesley's mouth and started filling his lungs with air.

As he worked along, he curiously wondered, "Anyway, what do the two of you want with this kid?"

Vexen growled like he might shout out, "Mind your own business!"

However, Zexion saved him, answering, "Revenge, plus a little experimentation for the sake of scientific development."

"Right, sorry I asked," Max noted. "Normally I wouldn't do a miracle for the likes of you, but the payment's right. Just be glad that witch isn't home right now."

"I'm not a witch Maxwell!" A crackly voice screamed from another room, "I'm your wife!"

Max ran off to take care of her, and as soon as he was gone, Wesley began coughing uncontrollably. Zexion and Vexen exchanged a glance. Had it really worked? After several seconds, Wesley leaned his head back down on the table, breathing sporadically as his eyes slowly opened.

In an almost disappointed way, he stumbled out, "God, I'm not dead yet?"


	22. Chapter 21 Memory experiments

Wesley was once again in his dark cell, propped up against the wall, glaring all his not vented emotions at Vexen and Zexion.

"Don't look so glum, Pirate Boy. We just saved your life," Zexion started.

"You should be grateful," Vexen added.

"Grateful I am indeed," Wesley weakly retorted in sarcasm. "After all the pain and misery you put me through, I finally thought it was over, and then I open my eyes to find my heroic rescuers are simply brining me back for more. Yes, that's exactly what I've always dreamed of!"

"Well, actually," Zexion stumbled out an answer, "this isn't meant that way. It's an experiment, for posterity's sake. It shouldn't hurt in the least. Just be honest with us…where did you get this?" He pointed to Wesley's forehead where was located a strange scar of a 'P.' It was a souvenir from his two years of lost memory. Wesley knew what it was: a visible sign that he had been caught once, by someone, somehow…that he almost died, but escaped. As for the when, where, and how details, they were gone.

Vexen looked at Wesley in expectation. He was clearly missing that part of his memory. It was apparent by the blank stare he gave as he reached to the scar on his face—the same one Roxas had given whenever he was asked a question. The 'P' had somehow been decorated by a snake wound around the pole, almost as if he took pride in the death sentence that hadn't killed him.

After waiting a couple seconds, "Vexen repeated Zexion, "Where did you get it from?"

"I…" Wesley began. "This 'P'…some British guy…I don't know…What is it to you?"

Zexion didn't answer; he just smiled and said, "We'll ask you the same question tomorrow, see if your answer has changed. Now, move on to the next one. Have you ever heard of something called the Panama Code?"

"Never," Wesley lied, obviously practiced in the art. He was good enough of a liar that, if Zexion hadn't already known the answer, only Luxord would have been able to tell.

Pretending like he believed, Zexion turned to leave and mentioned sadly, "Well then, I guess our experiment is over. You're just alive and alone in a place where everyone hates you."

"So what if I've heard of it?"

Zexion stopped in his tracks. "It is not of consequence to you what we use it for. All you need to know is that we need it."

"I would never tell that to you, even if I knew."

"You say that like you don't know it," Vexen pointed out.

"I don't!" Wesley insisted.

"Really?...It's fairly common knowledge that you figured it out," Zexion noted.

"Since when is _that_ common knowledge?"

"So you admit you know it."

"That is not what I meant," Wesley corrected, "I don't know what it is. There's only like three people who knew I was even searching."

"Well, now there's five," Zexion said fiercely. "And if you don't tell us willingly we'll have to force it out of you."

"With what? I'm not that easy to 'persuade'."

"With this," Zexion answered, splashing a bucket of water between the two of them.

Wesley almost choked with laughter. "A bucket o' water? Ye really expect that to frighten me? I'm a pirate for heaven's sake!"

"Ah, but this isn't any ordinary bucket of water. It's a magical one from our friend Demyx."

Wesley laughed again; though, he was slightly concerned by why Zexion would consider it fear inspiring. "And what can a magical bucket of water do to me?"

"Kill you, just like any bucket of water."

"But why would you kill me? Then, you'd never get the code from me."

"That's where you'd be wrong," Zexion countered. "We can always drag you back to Miracle Max's, bring you back to life, and start the whole process over, drowning and all, until you give in."

That one word—drowning—started the whole process. Wesley fell to his knees clutching his head as his mind raced back to _BLOODY WATER!_ I thought again. _Bloody me!_ Breathing only made me need to cough, which would make me breathe more, and then I would die. I tried to hold my head away from the ship to reduce pain, but it wasn't working. Maybe I should just let myself die. I quickly brushed that thought aside. I had promised my friends that I would get old. Suddenly, I couldn't feel my fingers.

_Were they slowing down_I asked myself, closing my eyes to get rid of the cough. It wouldn't go away, and I quickly realized that I had slowed to a complete stop. I opened my eyes again, wondering why. My lungs hurt so bad that I was convinced I wouldn't feel the scraping even if we were still moving…_but maybe not…everything hurt_. Then, everything started blurring, blending. I still had halfway to go, but I couldn't…_couldn't hold my breath. I needed…to get out_

There was some sort of movement below me. _Two…two, three…sharks. Sharks…blood… bloody blood! Circles…shark circles. Don't move…attack_I thought, freaking out, knowing they would attack me. One of them had that hat, and he started talking to me in a strange Australian accent.

"Eh, Mate," he began, "you seem a bit tied up at the moment."

I glared at him sarcastically, so he continued, "I'm gonna eat ye, I'm gonna eat ye," in a sing-song voice.

I tried to say something back to him, but, being in water, I didn't succeed in the slightest.

Then the shark made fun of me, "Don' be so stupid, lad. I don' think ye've got gills like me and me Mates." With a laugh, he went to attack Wesley, but somehow the ship jerked just at the right moment. Instead of getting my leg, the shark attacked the rope restraining me, releasing me from the crew's death hold. Magically, my arms were also untied.

Spitting out a chunk of ship, the shark finished, "By the way, it seems ye've some mates in a boat out there lookin' fer ye. S'pose I'll have te let ye be this time…if ye make it to their boat 'fore I catch ye."

I took off swimming as fast as I could—considering I was drowning, bleeding, and on the edge of unconsciousness. The first place I went was the surface to gulp in a mouthful of air. The boat wasn't too far away, so I reached it, even though my body kept limply sinking into the ocean. The shark was right on my tail as my childhood hero, Jason, lifted me into the boat. I coughed for a very long time, and my vision once again was going blurry as I knelt there on the rowboat. Also in the rowboat was a man I knew to be the pirate king, Henry Morgan.

He sat there silently for a very long time before finally saying, "This is for you," and handing me a piece of paper. I recognized it from somewhere…It read: Dulucslegg Raoyny Att. Sonfiwe Tiie Tourou, Raoyny Hemi Hemi Tragennal Scnedr.

A moment later my captain had pinned me to the wall, a knife at my throat, and I still had that paper. I stared at it, trying to make sense of the scramble, but it just seemed like a bunch of random letters thrown onto a page and grouped together. In my mind the letters started swirling around on the paper like I might pass out, or like the little dots did the first time I read music. I just watched the swirling letters, with no idea where to start when suddenly the swirls started forming things. Quickly, I realized that the letters, when mixed around, formed words like: "Henry Morgan," "Wesley," and Congratulations." I rubbed my eyes, but they were still there.

A smile spread across my face as I started to write down the words I saw, until I remembered Barbossa was watching and I ripped it into as many pieces as I could, shouting, "It's useless!"

Barbossa turned me around to face him, and the knife was immediately back in place. "I saw you smile Swann. What did you see? What did it say?"

I looked at it with a sad smile and sighed, "It says: 'Congratulations Wesley, you figured it out. Sincerely, the Admiral Henry Morgan.'" Then, I pushed it back in his hands and questioned, "Are you happy?"

A moment passed in which what just happened sunk in for all of us. Then, Barbossa asked, "Ye know the password?"

I agreed, "I know the password," as the girl's name flashed across my mind: Melinda.

Zexion cocked his head to the side curiously as he watched Wesley gasping, choking, and holding his head and shrugged. "Perhaps it is a little painful. Eh, that's what clinical trials are for, right?"

He and Vexen were getting ready to leave the cell when, of all people, Roxas and Demyx appeared on the floor next to them, all bruised and bleeding, followed closely by an angry lobster. He demanded of the two surprised Nobodies, "What were your people doing in _my_ prison shack?"

Confused, Vexen looked to Zexion, who returned the glance, and then questioned, "You put a prison shack on _our_ Exile Island?" After a moment, Vexen growled, "How dare YOU!"

"That was our island," Zexion added. "It was perfectly designed so that no one returned. A shack in the middle of it reduces the efficiency by at least thirty-four point seven two one percent."

"Did you just figure that out in your head?" Vexen inquired quietly.

Zexion didn't get a chance to respond—though the answer was obviously yes—because Lionel, ever more angry, said, "You would dare to challenge me? I'm the king. I can put a shack wherever I so wish. Now excuse me, while I tell your superior about the ways the _four_ of you went wrong."

The two Nobodies stood there silently, glaring at him as he left, and as soon as he was gone, Vexen unclenched his fists, commenting, "He's gonna get it one of these days. When it's just the two of us, I'll impale him on an ice spike!"

"Ever since he moved in with us, he treats us like we're servants," Zexion mentioned.

A brilliant idea suddenly came to Vexen, and he inquired, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Zexion looked at him dully with his one eye. "No. What are you thinking?"

Vexen just smiled evilly, and whispered one phrase, "Our enemy's enemy is our friend."

"What? You want—oh. I see," Zexion understood.

Hallom stared dreamily over the drifting river, as he perched thoughtfully on the porch railing. His ears were attentive in all directions, and his hair was blowing carelessly in the light breeze as I approached him from the back. He immediately heard my soft footsteps and acknowledged my presence without turning.

"I-I didn't expect you to find that," he stuttered in greeting.

"I was beginning to wonder, if we truly couldn't get out, how did they get it? And where does the food come from?" I responded, standing next to him and leaning on the railing.

Hallom pointed straight in front of him, I could only suppose in reply to the food question.

"They didn't make it far from their point of entry."

Still, Hallom said nothing, so I asked, "Why didn't you tell us how to get out?"

"T-there's a win-window you can jump out of too," he began, taking a long pause before continuing, "but I…I didn't want to get your hopes up."

"What do you mean?"

"This whole place…it's all an…illusion. With-without perfect directions, you won't get anywhere." I frowned at him confused, so he sighed, "You…you don't understand." I could see him thinking, _I wish my friend Ace was here to talk for me, _before he pointed to the same place as last time. "You don't see the food, right?"

"Uh-uh," I agreed.

"But it-it's there. Seven strides forward and two to the left."

"That close, and we still can't see it?" I wondered in confusion.

"And…once you get there, y-you can't see the shack. Without clear instructions the…the swamp en-engulfs you. Y-you may think you you're moving, but r-really…the island is s-spinning around you."

After thinking for a second, I decided, "I still don't understand."

He shrugged but didn't bother to say more. I didn't mind, though. In minutes I made him say more than he usually would all day.

I stood there for a while before suggesting, "I should probably go back inside then."

He nodded as I turned to go, but something prompted him to say, "Tiara I'm…I'm sorry 'bout your friends. I-I should have helped."

That time it was my turn to shrug. "It's probably a good thing you didn't step in Hallom. I didn't need to watch all of my friends be obliterated. I'm actually more worried about Wesley," I mentioned off-handedly.

"Who's…Wesley?"

"Another one of my creations…just I managed to get him involved in it all, and he has the tendency to get himself hurt. If Roxas is in that bad of shape, I can't begin to imagine what he's gotten himself into."

"Oh…sorry," Hallom muttered.

I smiled and hopped onto the railing, facing the opposite direction as him. "You know he reminds me of you?" Hallom nodded in recognition, so I continued, "You guys have the same past of abusive fathers, the same fear of intimate relationships. You're both short, and you both want to protect everyone you meet. The only difference between you two is that he reacted spitefully by challenging all authority—thus deserving the punishment he would unfailingly get—and you just cowered timidly in the corner, hoping it would end until you learned how to protect yourself…and he's from England three hundred years ago."

Hallom just nodded.

"Is the only way to get you to say something to ask you a question with a long-winded answer?"

That got a slight smile from him, and he forced himself to answer, "No, I thought you were still talking."

I clapped my hands excitedly. "You didn't stutter!"

He changed the subject back, stating, "I-I'd like to meet him…I guess."

"Ooh goody! I can tell you _everything_ about him!"

Back at the castle, Zexion and Vexen had recruited Xaldin and brought him back to Wesley's cell so they could talk where Lionel didn't have any cameras yet. Unfortunately, Xaldin was trying to guess what they brought him there for; thus, preventing them from explaining the real reason. The first thing he notice when he entered the room was Wesley cuddled up in the corner, crying.

"I thought you were dead," he mentioned immediately.

Wesley just shrugged. He was obviously off in a different world of his own.

Vexen explained, "He's part of our memory experiments. We had to bring him back if we ever want Roxas to think again."

Xaldin nodded and turned his attention towards Roxas and Demyx across the room, asking, "So you had to bring them back as well, I suppose."

"Not exactly," Zexion countered. "Lionel brought them back. Apparently, he's erected Tia Dalma's prison shack on our Exile Island, and they were in it causing trouble, so he sent them back home."

After thinking for a moment, Xaldin agreed, "Hmm, it seems he interferes with all of our plans. First he wastes our time by sending us out to arrest his citizens. Then, he insists he deserves control over the Heartless…You know he took Superior's room."

"He made me spend days in my lab equipping him to make his own portals," Vexen added, "because Larxene got tired of going everywhere with him."

"He's certainly proven himself to not be the greatest castle-mate, but what of it?"

"If there ever was a time to take him down, it's now."

Xaldin thought about it for a very long time, but since his face clearly showed skepticism, Vexen felt it necessary to expound, "He keeps asking us to help him fight off Nori and his friends. It would be so easy to just join Nori to help take him down. Together it would surely work."

Zexion added, "And the one thing that's always held us back before is gone now. Tia Dalma no longer holds the power of light, so the people wouldn't make her queen…and Nori certainly doesn't want the responsibilities of ruling all of _**Fiction-land**_. We take down Lionel and help release Tia and we look like the heroes, and also the only people willing and able to take over his position as ruler."

Xemnas suddenly appeared in the cell as well, clapping his hands and commenting, "And the darkness continues. I was wondering how long it would take one of you to come up with that idea. Just like that and all the hearts will be ours."

"You need to stop doing that Superior," Vexen noted. "If you can hear everything we say, even in private, how can we be sure Lionel isn't listening as well."

"What makes it so fear inspiring is that I tell _no one_ how to use it…Now, how do you propose we do it?"

"Drugs," Vexen suggested.

"Hand to hand combat?" Xaldin wondered.

"Turn one of his concubines against him and have her stab him in the heart while he's sleeping," Zexion added his own thoughts.

"That just gave me a nasty picture," Vexen replied.

"That man is no longer kill-able," Xemnas corrected. "His shell is made of the same material as Writers' Block, so he will never more be brought to a story. But he can still adjust himself, as his heart is made of a computer that continually adds, 'Lionel cannot die,' to his story."

"Then, we just need to find a way to keep him locked up somewhere for all eternity," Vexen understood, slightly disappointed. That would be impossible now that he could use portals.

"First of all," Xemnas explained, "we disable the portals…for everyone except the four of us; though, we'll have to be extremely careful in the way we use it. We wouldn't want Lionel to get the idea he's the only one being effected."

"How do they do that?" Demyx quietly asked in curiosity from the floor.

Xemnas gestured Roxas to stand up, even though he'd just barely opened his eyes. Roxas had no idea what the conversation had been about, but he nervously obeyed, walking over to the group of four. Xemnas put a strong hand on Roxas's shoulder and pointed him towards Xaldin and Vexen.

"You know what to do," he told the two of them. "It won't be too hard to blame the kid." Then, he left, gesturing that Zexion come with him, probably to do some strategic planning.

Zexion obeyed as Xaldin suggested to Vexen, "Go on ahead of me and get things set up," so Vexen took Roxas away to get things set up.

A second later, Xaldin turned to Wesley in the corner. "Why are you crying kid?"

"Kemina left me, my captain's trying to kill me, my sister doesn't know who I am, and a man with rotten teeth kissed me," Wesley responded distantly. "Just all the things I wish I'd never remembered is all…"

"It worked then?" Xaldin questioned.

Wesley nodded. After a moment to think about it, he inquired, "Does that mean I'm gonna die again, since it was over so soon."

"Unfortunately, probably."

For another moment, Wesley nodded before asking, "Can I make a request?"

"You can always request; though, I particularly enjoy telling people no."

Wesley decided to give it a try. "Can I be killed by the Heartless?"

"What?"

"I've done a lot of thinking on the matter—I've had a lot of time. And it makes sense to me. If I'm killed by the Heartless, then I might come back as a Nobody, and I'll understand the reasons why you are the way you are."

Xaldin smiled slightly, "Who told you that?"

"That girl…Katex."

"I'll see what I can do…no promises, though. I do promise that _I_ will not hurt you until I have given you an answer."

Across the castle, in another one of those white rooms, Roxas was sitting in the chair Vexen had left him in. There were earphones on his head playing a constant ear breaking, nerve wrecking, high pitched, squealing noise. A moment later, Xaldin entered the room, acting as if he hadn't noticed Roxas suffering all alone in the middle, waiting for the promised return of Vexen. He just walked to the same computer that was generating the noise and pushed a few buttons—actually enabling a certain power of the forest which limited the use of portals to specific people. Then, he walked out, as if nothing had ever happened.

A second after Xaldin left the room, Roxas threw the earphones to the ground questioning, "Why am I listening to this?" However, he quickly realized that the entire room was filled with the noise. He ran to the door Xaldin and Vexen had left through—the same door he had entered through—but it was locked. Frustrated, he did the only thing he could think of. He formed his dark keyblade in his hands, charged the computer, and destroyed it.

The noise sputtered and died, and Roxas collapsed to the floor in relief. Xaldin once again entered the room, clapping his hands and commenting, "Bravo, bravo. That was exactly what you were supposed to do. You've set our changes in stone, and ensured that people have no one to blame but you." Then, he formed a portal and grabbed Roxas's arm to drag him through it, saying, "Now back to the prison for you."


	23. Chapter 22 Maldwyn

It really wasn't that much further into the future, so Hallom and I were still talking about Wesley. I had just gotten through telling him how Wesley's father just keeps popping up again in his life—even after he ran away at age eight, he still had run-ins with his father when he was fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen. Hallom collapsed backwards onto the bed disheartened by that comment.

"So, you mean, even after all these years, my father could still get me?" He questioned and then added, "Well that's encouraging."

"Is that sarcasm Hallom?" I asked, but his mind had already drifted off to pieces of his childhood, until it eventually focused on one in specific.

One day, when he was four, he found a robin's egg at the base of a large tree at the playground. The egg had clearly fallen to the ground due to the windstorm the night before, but at that point, Hallom thought it was because of the poor thing's father. Since he felt so bad for it, he brought it home to care for. He found a little basket, filled it with soft stuff, and gave the broken egg a blanket to keep warm. Then, he himself went to bed.

The next morning when he woke up, the egg had grown too large to fit in the basket, so Hallom concluded that the bird egg he'd seen the night before was a disguise until what really lay inside knew it could trust the caretaker. He brought his ostrich sized egg to day care that day to show everybody the dragon that lay within. When he told his friends, though, they all just laughed and walked away.

Hallom continued caring for his precious egg, however. Gradually it grew, and grew, until it was so big it took up his whole bed, and he had to sleep on the floor. His father kept calling him, "stupid," and "idiot," for doing such things, but Hallom knew the reason he was mad was because his dad didn't believe in dragons, so he couldn't see the dragon growing. Hallom begged the dragon's egg over and over to hatch so his father could see him, but nothing happened.

Summer, autumn, and most of winter passed with nothing happening. Even the egg had stopped growing larger. Hallom had begun to worry, until something miraculous happened on New Year's Day. He came back inside from playing in the snow to find a huge crack in the egg! After a while, a little mouth peeked out…and then a whole head. Hallom backed nervously away, bracing himself against the wall. No one had ever seen a real dragon before.

He wasn't so frightened anymore when the whole thing came out of its shell. It was just as tall as he was, and it had this soft little nuzzle with no teeth. Cautiously, he inched forward to touch it, but when he did, the dragon grew before his eyes to the stage of a teenager. He was so tall, almost too tall to stand in Hallom's room, especially with his wings, which were each as big as Hallom's daddy. Hallom fell to his butt, looking like he might cry.

"Do not be afraid Pup," an amazing, booming voice comforted, "I am here to protect you."

Hallom looked up at the dragon and asked hopefully, "Really?"

"You gave me life. I owe you my protection."

Hallom hopped up and ran over to hug the dragon's leg. After a moment, he wondered, "Are you hungry? What food do you like?"

"Anything you have will be fine."

Hurriedly, Hallom rushed down the stairs and to the kitchen to look in the refrigerator for dragon food. He couldn't figure out what the dragon would like, until he thought, _Well, big people like steak, and he's a BIG dragon._ Quickly, he grabbed a chair so he could reach the steak in the freezer and started back up the stairs. Before he made it far, though, he noticed all these bloody footprints that were the same size as his shoes. Hallom stopped and thought for a while, eventually deciding it must have come from the egg hatching.

Knowing his dad would be mad if he left it there, Hallom ran to the closet to get towels to clean the mess up. On top of the towels was his father's special trophy, which shouldn't have been there, so Hallom didn't notice it. He grabbed the towels from underneath it, making it fall to the floor, where it broke.

"Oops," Hallom whispered as he picked the pieces back up and tried to fix it. He knew he couldn't, so he put them back in the closet in a pile. He returned to cleaning up the floor for a while, until he heard a car pull up in the driveway. Afraid that it would be his father, he abandoned the cleaning, brought the steak up for the dragon, and hid in his closet.

After a few moments that seemed like forever, the door opened, the light revealing his mother standing in the closet doorway. She picked him up in her arms as he revealed, "Mommy, when I came home from playing outside today, my dragon hatched, and he made a big mess everywhere, so when I went to clean it up, I broke something."

She sat down on his bed, hugging his head to her chest, and picked up the tiny robin's egg. "You mean this dragon honey?" She paused for a long time before continuing, "You never played outside today Hallom. Your father hit you and threw you out in the snow. The dragon does not need to eat our dinner, and the reason the house is a mess is because you're bleeding, not the tiny little robin egg."

"My dragon, Maldwyn, is real Mommy, just you wait and see. One day, you're gonna see him too."

Suddenly, his father's voice thundered through the house, "Hallom!"

Hallom was instantly wriggling to get free. "Mommy, Mommy let me go. Let me hide…please… Maldwyn, save me!"

"Are you sure you meant to be sharing this with me?" I asked from beside the bed. Hallom had been equipped with a form of telepathy called Mind's Eye in which he could share his thoughts and memories with others by projecting their pictures in the room. I knew of it, and I was pretty sure he hadn't realized he was doing it.

"Y-you saw that?" He questioned.

I nodded.

"Oops," was all he said.

Realizing he didn't really want to think about what happened after that moment, I decided to start a conversation. "You certainly stuttered a lot less when you were four."

After a short pause, he replied, "I don't…stutter…I just—you make me feel comfortable, and I don't know why you make me want to talk, but I don't like talking…so I spend most of the conversation convincing myself to stop talking to you…which is hard."

I smiled, "I can have that effect on people."

A moment later, Hallom yawned, muttering through it, "I'm tired."

I laughed, "I can have that effect of people too…but I know how important it is that you sleep when you're tired, so good night. I'll sleep on the floor tonight."

He looked at me strangely and then threw a pillow from the bed at my head and drifted away to sleep. At least half an hour later, as I was just about to fall asleep as well, Hallom shot up in bed shouting, "No Maldwyn! Don't eat that!"

He climbed out of bed and rushed to his secret exit. Curious as to what he was doing, I followed. We swam to the edge of the river, and then he ran through the forest like there was no tomorrow. I couldn't keep up at all with him. As soon as he was out of my sight, the path started spinning. The trees on either side of me were moving both directions, so I couldn't tell if I was walking forward or backwards. I finally understood what Hallom had meant when I notice that a rock I could have sworn was behind me, appeared in front of me.

Lost and confused, I shouted as loud as I could, "HALLOM!"

The group of six friends had entered the forest. It wasn't too hard to find again the place Warren had marked as the beginning of the road. Nori stepped onto it cautiously, and a few feet of yellow bricks appeared to the North.

Nehemiah looked to the road heading north and to the map pointing them west, deciding, "I guess this is where we part. Good luck."

"Good luck to you too," Nori replied, giving Chiyo a special smile as she walked off with Becca, in her Japanese street clothes, and Nehemiah.

"Nori's got a girlfriend," Warren mocked in a sing-song voice over and over again.

Nori dropped his head in his hand, trying to ignore it, and asked Dusty, "So where does the road go next?"

"'Continue upward,' it says," Dusty answered perplexed. As Nori tried to figure out the clue, Dusty wondered, "Are you just gonna let him keep saying that?"

"Yup," Nori responded, "you think upward means forward? If I stop him from saying it, he'll get agitated or angsty. Giddy is certainly better." He tried stepping off the front of the road, but immediately got smacked in the face by a blank sign that popped out of the ground. Nori fell to the ground, rubbing his nose. "I guess not."

Warren broke out in a burst of atypical laughter. Then, he picked Nori up off the ground and pushed him off the road again.

"Not funny Warren!" Nori shouted as the sign smacked his face again.

Warren was about to do it again, when Dusty urgently jumped in front of him noting, "Wait! I've got something really important to ask you."

"What?" Warren asked, dropping a relieved Nori back to the ground.

Dusty hadn't gotten that far, but after a second, she blurted out, "What's your favorite color?"

Raising an eyebrow at Dusty he answered, "Grey."

Nori climbed to his feet and tried to figure out how to "continue upward." He quickly noticed a tree branch extending right over the road. Deciding it must be the solution, he tried to reach it, but even jumping he was too short. He took a running start, missed the tree, but ended up landing on a floating, invisible platform. A second later, an entire staircase appeared, made from the yellow brick road.

Dusty and Warren looked up at the staircase and started climbing up. Nori whispered to Dusty as they climbed, "You need to keep asking him a bunch of random questions like that because it always seemed to work for Kairi."

"Why me?" Dusty wondered.

"Because we're good at his recovery process, but only girls can _keep_ him calm, and…he seems to have taken a liking to you."

"Nuh-uh," Dusty countered.

Nori just smiled and walked up ahead.

With a sigh, Dusty inquired, "What does your toothbrush look like?"

A slightly cheerful smile spread across Warren's face as a heartwarming story came to his mind. "Pink," Warren replied distantly, "with Hello Kitty on the handle."

"What?" Dusty exclaimed, almost breaking out in laughter. She was hushed by a harsh glare from Nori.

"Odd…I know," Warren continued. "It was a gift from my sister the day I left Central City. She wasn't supposed to know I was leaving because everyone knew she couldn't come with me. She found out somehow, though, and she gave me the toothbrush to say good bye. That's all."

Dusty thought for a second. "Hmm. How old was your sister?"

"Six then, but she'd been six for a while already."

"Why couldn't she come?"

"What is this some sort of Warren Peace family history class?" He demanded angrily.

Nori whispered back to her, "Not random enough."

Dusty quickly changed the subject. "Uh, you know those blow-up, child protection, flotation devices that you put on your arms? Yeah, well, did you know if you put them on your legs instead of your arms, you turn upside down and get stuck under the water? My sister did that once. I laughed at her for that. I laugh at her a lot."

An hour later, Dusty was still asking questions. "What is a piñata?"

"You know," Warren replied, "Roxas asked me that same question once, only he sincerely didn't know what a piñata was, so we tied him to a tree by his feet and beat him with swimming noodles until he couldn't laugh anymore. No candy came out, though."

Because Dusty looked a little concerned, Nori added, "That was before either of them moved to our house, when they were friends in Central City."

Dusty nodded and then mentioned, "But that didn't answer my question."

"He doesn't have to answer the question, just keep thinking about random things. Ask him more than once, and he'll rip your head off." Before Dusty could ask the next question, however, Nori wondered about the next clue, mostly to himself, "What does it mean, 'the hamburger and fries are simply a distraction'?"

He didn't expect anyone to answer that question, much less Warren, who explained, "The hamburger and fries? Are we there already? It's a common nickname for the gate to Central City…only it's not the real gate. Within its small boundaries is restrained a terrible monster that is feared by even the worst of creatures this side of _**Fiction-land.**_"

After a moment, Dusty interrupted a terrible silence with, "Uh…sorry to say this, but I think we may have to fight said terrible beastie."

"Why?" Both boys asked. Nori continued, "We can't fight. Warren can't start or he'll never stop for the whole trip, and neither of the two of us have weapons."

"Well, the next clue says, 'The journey is only possible with OEOHFPPE on your side.'"

Nori sighed, depressed for a second before he came up with an idea. "Does this monster have a weakness? Surely it must because the forest is based around weaknesses. All we must find is its weakness and use it against itself."

Warren scratched his head for a moment like he was thinking. He tried saying something, but nothing came out for a very long time. Finally, he suggested, "Dig a hole and bury it in it."

Nori looked at Warren strangely. "What is it with you and Roxas and holes? Every time we need a solution from one of the two of you, it's burying something in a hole!"

"That was the point," Warren agreed. "That boy…what's his name?"

"Roxas," Nori answered, slightly confused.

"Him…as far as I know, he's the monster's only weakness."

"You're suddenly not making any sense at all Warren," Nori noted, reaching out his arms to catch Warren who had started to sway like he might fall. He turned to Dusty and stated, "We can't leave him exposed to dark for this long. You never know what might happen."

Warren kept explaining, stuttering, "He…he defeated OEOHFPPE (correctly pronounced Oh-Ae-Oh Huff-Pee) once…with just…with just his." Warren suddenly stopped, collapsing to the ground as if he were choking on something.

Nori knelt by his side, immediately asking, "Dusty, do you have a phone like Tiara's that has a light on it?"

And Dusty did, but she hadn't given it to Nori before Warren looked back up with a glare in his eyes. The transformation had begun. He growled softly, picked Nori up by his chin, and pinned him to a tree.

It didn't take too long for Nehemiah, Becca, and Chiyo to defeat their first challenge. That should have been a given, though, since Mr. Miyagi had given them the secrets of the forest. The problem was: he had also mentioned that the challenges always got harder as you go. They came across next the Hubabaloos—namely the strange creatures that could only be overcome using Three Musketeer candy bars. Having an appearance slightly mixed between a cat, a rat, and the Dusks, the creature was black with eyes that didn't glow but reflected any little bit of light they caught. It also had the ability to move so fast that, even if you could distinguish it from the dark background, you wouldn't see it move.

You had to draw it away from yourself with the Three Musketeer bars before it attacked you, otherwise it would instantly infect you with the disease it carried. This disease could read your heart and, based upon that, it would determine how to proceed. For example, someone like Nori or Sora—entirely good and always happy—would quickly whither, die, and turn into a Hubabaloo. Someone like Warren, however, who came from the darkness would be easy to reconvert and would just be swallowed by his past ways.

Thankfully, Becca had caught sight of the beady eyes beginning to surround them before they attacked. "Those are the—?" She began in a questioning tone.

"Hubabaloos," Nehemiah replied, noticing them as well. Each of them took a Three Musketeer bar, unwrapped it, and threw it in a different direction from the others. The Hubabaloos ran off to fight over the three candy bars, and the three friends safely walked on, ready to take on the next challenge. They made it like fifty feet forward before the next thing appeared. The ground they were standing on suddenly rose up several hundred feet, leaving them a small platform with huge cliffs on every side. All three of them were afraid of heights.

Chiyo closed her eyes and frowned to muffle a scream that would have otherwise come out. After her jaw stopped shaking, she wondered, "Do we have to climb down the side?"

Gulping the lump from his throat, Nehemiah answered shakily, "I think so."

Becca fell to her hands and knees to look over the edge, as she noted, "It would be helpful to have some rope or something."

Being the boy, of course Nehemiah had to be the one to step forward and try climbing down first. He turned around and tried to climb down backwards. He was able to find a couple footholds and take a couple steps before a loose rock fell out from beneath his foot. As he fell, Becca and Chiyo desperately grabbed his wrists, catching him in the nick of time.

Once they had a second to calm themselves down from the sudden adrenaline rush, Chiyo commented, "I wonder how long we'll have to stay here."

Hallom couldn't stop running. That was all he knew right then. He had to get to Maldwyn before his dragon did something stupid. He fell to his knees but instantly climbed back to his feet. Maldwyn's voice was getting louder, so he knew he was close. Hallom burst through a bunch of trees to a large clearing full of amazed spectators. In the center of the clearing was his giant dragon, looking sickly and in pain. It was obvious he was starved, and three men stood beneath his head holding up the leg of some poor creature for him to eat.

Even though he was exhausted, Hallom was able to rush between Maldwyn and the men, insisting between breaths, "Don't eat it Maldwyn…The voice you heard…it's not me."

"You get out of the way boy," a random man with the same voice as Hallom ordered, tossing the worn out Hallom to the side.

Hallom hardly had enough energy after that run to stand to his feet and demand, "Who are you?"

The man replied, "The question should be: 'who are you to interfere with our procedure? Don't you see the signs?'" He pointed to a fence of yellow tape surrounding the dragon.

Wiping the sweat from his face, Hallom drew his katana and positioned himself to fight, "My name is Hallom. Now, step away from my dragon."

"I was afraid that might be so," the man said with a smirk. "We were well aware of your strong connection with the dragon and were afraid you might try to interfere. Rest assured we are thoroughly prepared for your arrival. Have a seat."

Hallom didn't plan on complying, but his legs suddenly gave in. He fell to the ground, looking up at the laughing man.

"Telepathy, huh?" Hallom realized.

"Yes," the man agreed, "I am Dr. Agari Sampson, assistant to Dr. Thinity. We've been studying different telepathic abilities for some time now and became very interested in the one you possess. It was only a matter of time before Mind's Eye drew you to rescue your dragon, what is his name?"

"Maldwyn," Hallom mentioned distantly, having noticed something different. Doctor Thinity had his same last name. Could he really be…related to him?

Hallom gathered the strength to stand to run away, but he was instantly stopped by the two words, "Wait…son." In this case, 'son' did not have the meaning of an endearing term for some random boy younger than you, but that of a despised child from years past.

A mixture of fear, anger, and over ten years of holding a grudge filled Hallom's voice as he stumbled out, "Fa-father?"

The new voice chuckled, "It has been a long time hasn't it Runt?"

Hallom wasn't sure whether he wanted to attack or flee, so he just stood there, staring at his worst nightmare, as he tried to win first the struggle within himself.

"Don't worry Runt," his father continued, "now that you're here, your childish fantasy can leave, practically unharmed. Though, I must admit, I never thought you capable of creating something so powerful with your mind."

A small growl grew in Hallom's throat at the insult, but it was hardly audible because Maldwyn had suddenly risen into the air, uttering an ear-piercing scream. He swooped down in front of Hallom, completely surrounding the small boy with his large body. Using Mind's Eye so only Hallom could hear him, Maldwyn stated, _Thank you for coming Pup, but I cannot let you go through the things you've been through again._ He picked Hallom up and set him safely between his two wings. Taking to flight, Maldwyn finished, _I'm going to get you away from here even if I die doing it._

"No Maldwyn…don't," Hallom muttered, just as the crowd began to recover from the horrid screech. Dr. Agari was the first to recover, telepathically reaching out to slap Hallom's mind—a technique he learned from the character's in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. The pain hit Hallom's mind so hard that he almost fell off Maldwyn but instead grabbed onto the dragon's skin, digging in with his sharp nails.

Maldwyn looked back to the small boy and asked, _Are you all right?_

"Don't make contact!" Hallom shouted painfully. "He'll get you too."

They flew for another second until Hallom started shaking, his nose started bleeding, and a single tear fell down his face. _Kid?_ Maldwyn asked, concerned.

"SHUT UP!" Hallom begged, but it was too late. Without any sort of warning, nor sign of pain, Maldwyn just fell out of the sky. Letting out a yelp, Hallom nudged the dragon a couple times and whispered worriedly, "Maldwyn…Maldwyn."

The dragon didn't respond, so Hallom climbed off of him, unsheathing his katana. "You said he'd be unharmed!" Hallom shouted running to attack Dr. Agari.

He collapsed to the ground as well after another attack on his mind and tried desperately to swallow the pain as Dr. Agari responded, "That was _if_ you stayed."


	24. Chapter 23 OEOHFPPE

After recuperating from the initial shock of seeing Warren choking Nori, Dusty grabbed him from behind demanding, "What are you doing Warren?" When Warren stumbled a few steps back away from Nori, she grabbed her cell phone from her pocket and shown the light in his face. He snarled and pushed the annoying light away.

"It's too late Dusty," Nori explained after a few shaky breaths. "The light won't save him anymore. We might just have to leave him in Central City."

"You wouldn't dare," Warren grumbled, tossing Dusty off his back.

"Not like it matters," Dusty noted, quickly returning to her feet. "We'll never even make it to Central City if we don't cooperate to defeat the OEOHFPPE."

Warren's anger was suddenly replaced by fear as he questioned, "Why the hell are we fighting that monster?"

"We're trying to save Roxas," Nori began.

"Who?" Warren inquired timidly.

"Him," Nori answered, pulling out another copy of the three of them in the picture and pointing to Roxas. "He's stuck here, and you offered to rescue him."

Warren thought for a very long time with a frown on his face, eventually commenting again, "But he's the only one who can beat Oh-Ae-Oh Huff-Pee."

"What does Roxas have that we don't?" Dusty wondered.

Nervously, Warren shrugged. Nori and Dusty each grabbed one of his arms and led him to the left where was located a small arena. It somewhat had the appearance of a hamburger because it was slightly rounded on both the top and the bottom. The French Fries either referred to a crisscross design on the cement of the arena, or the cattails in the swamp surrounding it.

When they reached the entrance to the arena, Nori put a hand up to stop Dusty. "You wait here," He ordered.

"What?" Dusty asked in shock.

"Remember what I said? I won't lose you along with your sister here in _**Fiction-land**_."

Dusty rested a hand on her hp with a _humph_ as Warren inquired, "Can I stay here too?"

"No," Nori countered, pulling Warren through the entryway, "I need your help."

"B-b-b-but I can't fight Oh-Ae-Oh Huff-Pee," Warren complained. He continued sobbing girlishly as Nori led him around the hallways of the arena searching for the monster, finding nothing but piles of bones that had been picked clean. It had been a couple minutes, and Warren was starting to annoy Nori.

After peaking through an open doorway, Nori turned on Warren. "You know complaining like that makes you sound gay?"

"What did you say?" Warren questioned angrily.

"Yeah, I think you're gay. What'ya gonna do now?"

"I'll teach you to call me gay," Warren stated, clearly heating up.

Nori drew his samurai dagger—even though he was no longer dressed as a samurai—and mocked, "You gonna fight me, eh? I thought you were too scared to fight."

"I'm not scared of anything," Warren insisted, sounding offended.

"Then bring it on," Nori finished, turning his back to the doorway so that when Warren pounded him with the first burst of fire, he could duck and send it flying straight into the OEOHFPPE.

Warren didn't notice that he'd hit the OEOHFPPE, just that he'd missed Nori. Forming a ball in each hand, he tossed them at Nori, stating, "Two for flinching."

Nori jumped over one and ducked under the other. He returned to his previous position and saw the look of horror on Warren's face. Turning around to see what Warren was looking at, he realized that the ten foot tall, four foot wide creature had been standing directly behind him. OEOHFPPE was also incredibly furious that he had been woken from his nap by two arguing little boys and a couple fire balls.

OEOHFPPE grumbled loudly and raised one hand to strike Nori. Nori slashed once at the creature with his dagger and then ran to hide behind Warren. Even more frightened than Nori, Warren started backing away, but eventually just hid behind Nori. Slowly, Nori nudged forward until he could reach out and stab OEOHFPPE in the lower abdomen. The monster emitted a scream of pain and swiped Nori away like he was just a worthless chess piece in the way.

Angrily, Warren ordered, "You can't do that to him! It was my turn to kill him. I suppose I'll have to try to kill you first." He too prepared himself to fight, and the battle commenced. Both tried their hardest to attack the OEOHFPPE, but hard as they tried, nothing they did accomplished more than making him more vicious. It wasn't long before Nori could no longer stand from how many times he'd been thrown to the side—by Warren a couple of times too. Warren too was getting warn out. He most certainly wasn't going to rescue Nori from OEOHFPPE, who was currently trying to finish him off. Instead, Warren tiredly slid to the ground to build up more strength for when OEOHFPPE would attack him next.

Nori looked up at OEOHFPPE, eyes filled with pain and fear. If only they weren't surrounded by darkness…then Warren would have been cooperative, and they may have been able to win. He called out to his friend for help as OEOHFPPE raised a giant axe to strike, but Warren wasn't listening. All hope was lost. It was done.

The two girls were still holding Nehemiah from falling off the cliff. Both Nehemiah and Chiyo were scared out of their wits. Becca was one step worse, having broken a sweat. Suddenly, they started to lose their grip on Nehemiah. Chiyo reached back and stuffed her hand in a crack in the ground to hold him up better. Soon she was starting to lose her grip on the crack too. It would only be a moment before all three of them drifted off the edge and down to their death. Becca was too freaked out to do anything, but Chiyo kept trying to save them somehow.

She only managed to slow the time it took for them to fall. They were out of ideas as they slid off the cliff and sped to the ground. The fall was significantly shorter than they had expected it to turn out. All three looked up, entirely unharmed, wondering why they had fallen the two hundred feet so quickly just to see an amused Jafar laugh.

Explaining why they were still alive, he mentioned, "Psych." After a moment, he continued, "You've only fallen a measly seven feet. That cliff was merely an illusion to entertain myself while I prepared to fight you myself."

The three friends looked inquisitively at one another before instantly jumping to their feet. Becca drew a sword, Nehemiah raised his fists, and Chiyo burst into an array of bright colors. She was quickly replaced by a version of herself with three toned hair that was twice as full and twice as long, an obviously fantasized costume, and some sharp rings like those of Xena the Warrior Princess.

Nehemiah looked at her in surprise and asked, "When'd you learn to do that?"

"Well, you've got to learn something in side kick school," Chiyo joked, getting ready to throw one of them at Jafar.

"This ought to be interesting," Jafar noted, taking out his snake staff and pointing it towards the three. The eyes began to glow red, entrancing Nehemiah and Chiyo by their charm.

Becca too was spellbound at first, but she quickly remembered what Jafar's staff could do. In a hurry, Becca tackled her two friends, shouting, "No, don't! Whatever you do, don't look at his staff!"

"You spoiled brat," Jafar growled deliberately, swiping at her with the staff.

Frightened, Becca managed to prevent the staff from hitting her with her sword. A second later, she grabbed the staff and threw it against a tree to break it. Of course, she smiled at her success.

Jafar smiled as well, in more of a smirking way, inquiring, "Oh, so you want to fight me in _all_ of my glorious splendor?" As he said that sentence, he laughed heartily, and the volume increased steadily as he quickly transformed into his genie form.

The three friends looked up at Jafar in his new form, hovering in the air above them. Nehemiah expressed all of their feelings well as he stated, "Dear God."

Well, I'd hate to leave my readers at a loss to what happened to Warren and Nori, so we will return to them before continuing on to other people. Now where was I? Let's see…oh yes: Nori looked up at OEOHFPPE, eyes filled with pain and fear. If only they weren't surrounded by darkness…then Warren would have been cooperative, and they may have been able to win. He called out to his friend for help as OEOHFPPE raised a giant axe to strike, but Warren wasn't listening. All hope was lost. It was done…until this uncontrollable burst of laughter came from the entryway.

Dusty fell to her knees, unable to stand from hysteria of it all. She was eventually able to stumble out, "You guys…were…so afraid…of that? It's just…a…one eyed, one horned, flying, purple people eater."

The thing dropped his axe to the ground, missing Nori's head by an inch, and sat in the dirt, balling rivers of tears. "I really hate when people laugh at me," he whined in a tiny voice.

"How'd you do that?" Nori inquired curiously as he climbed back to his feet one last time.

Dusty shrugged, not having a better answer than that. Warren had hit his violent mode, however, so even though the monster had given up, he raged toward it again. Urgently, Dusty jumped between him and OEOHFPPE to stop him from killing it.

"Don't you guys!" Dusty exclaimed. "The flying purple people eater isn't a monster. He just wants to play in a rock and roll band is all."

"How…how'd you know that?" OEOHFPPE sobbed.

"It was in the song," Dusty replied. "I've heard you play a mean clarinet through your horn."

"Yes indeed," the creature squeaked. "Would you care to hear?"

"Certainly, though we're in quite a rush, so if you wouldn't mind coming with us…" Dusty faded off at the end, knowing she'd implied enough.

He looked around like he knew he wasn't supposed to leave and then decided, "I suppose I could."

Dusty walked off, followed by OEOHFPPE playing on his horn. Nori grabbed Warren by the wrist, dragging him unwillingly toward Dusty. "Why would I want to come with you?" He questioned. "You called me gay. You're my opponent. I still have to kill you."

"Right," Nori agreed sarcastically, "we're going to rescue your friend. You can kill me later," he had to give a specially hard tug then to keep Warren from pulling away, "after we get home, and you're back," another large tug, "in your right mind."

After that, Nori ignored Warren's complaints for a moment to comment to Dusty, "That was strange…ly anti-climatic. How'd you know all he really wanted was to play music?"

"He's from a song that my sister and I used to like and listen to when we were younger. You should have let me in sooner," Dusty responded.

She was cut off by a frustrated, "Let go of me," from Warren and a pained cry from Nori as his hand filled with a burning sensation.

"Ow," Nori complained, letting go of Warren's wrist, "you jerk! I'm trying to help you. This is what I get for letting you come with me."

"Next time fight harder, pushover," Warren retorted, "and I didn't want to come with _you_."

Fury filled Nori's face and he ordered, "Well, if you don't want to be here, then go home!"

"I would, if you and your corny friend Sora hadn't made my friend the blonde haired kid get stuck out here." When Warren said 'you,' he shoved Nori's chest, lighting his shirt on fire.

Hurriedly, Nori ripped his shirt off—so it wouldn't burn him—and tackled Warren off the side of the road mentioning, "Don't put all the blame on me. It was you who finally convinced him to leave."

Suddenly, the ground caved away, creating a huge canyon next to them with lava spewing out of it. Warren took advantage of the fact that Nori was distracted by it to roll on top of him. He quickly took up the job of squishing Nori's face with his burning hand. Nori struggled hard to get it off but couldn't. A moment later, Dusty once again had to pull Warren off of Nori.

"You let me be," Warren commanded, flinging Dusty from his arm to continue attacking Nori, who had climbed back to his feet.

Dusty also went to stand up, but halfway up, a swarm of black, leathery animals flew all over her face. She let out a shrill scream and fell back to the ground, cowering in a ball. For some reason, as opposed to just passing by like bats usually did, they hovered around Dusty. They were her fear. It was easy to tell because of her uneasy breathing.

When Warren heard her scream, he looked away from Nori and watched her for a moment as Nori muttered, "Bats…get back on the road Dusty."

She couldn't move, though. The fear was too great. One landed on her head, bringing a small whimper from Dusty. The next second, a giant one appeared. It reached down a claw to grab Dusty and carry her away. Just before it would have, Warren let go of Nori and lit the whole bunch on fire. As the dead bodies fell in a shower of burnt cinders around them, Dusty looked into Warren's eyes and realized something. Nori was right.

"You saved me," she whispered softly.

Warren reached out a hand to help her up. "Of course I did."

OEOHFPPE finally stopped blowing on his horn and asked in his squeaky voice, "So did you like my song?"

There was an odd little nurse with a nurse's hat and curly buns on the sides of her head trying to nurse Maldwyn back to health. Hallom had put her there. Yeah, she was a fake nurse, but Maldwyn was a fake dragon. All Hallom had to do was pretend Maldwyn was getting better and he would. It was always a little bit harder when you could hardly move yourself, but slowly, eventually, Maldwyn would fly again. Hallom was sure to feed Maldwyn too, adding quietly, _Make sure you eat your vegetables._

The healing process was suddenly ended when Dr. Agari stepped into the room. "You know you're so predictable. Dr. Thinity said you'd be healing your dragon," he began, and Hallom's eyes shot open. They were just waiting to catch him using Mind's Eye, so they could study it. Thus, every time they walked through the door, anytime they were slightly paying attention, he had to stop healing Maldwyn, who was still lying on the ground in the clearing.

Hallom had since been moved to a small room with tubes and machinery. His body was practically useless, so he could do nothing but just lay there on the floor. His mind, however, was still working and active. That was, except for every time Dr. Agari came in to attack it. He looked at a list of things on his clipboard, considering what to do next.

"Hmm, we've checked the Temporal, and the Parietal lobes. What should we do next, eh Wolf Boy?" He wondered. Not really expecting an answer, Dr. Agari answered his own question, "I think we'll move on to the Occipital. Is that where you hide your Mind's Eye?"

Still, Hallom said nothing.

"Very well then," Dr. Agari said after a moment. "I shall prelude this procedure, as always, with your rights. Obviously, you have the right to remain silent. Everything you say certainly will be used against you, and it is most definitely less painful if you just cooperate. Now then, moving on. Will you show us your Mind's Eye?"

Still Hallom said nothing.

And then the pain returned, the crippling headache that made vision blur and made all thought impossible as the man dissected Hallom's mind, searching for the source of his power. Hallom writhed and cried out until he suddenly had a flashback of something. A smile spread across his face, and the room filled with a string of horses running wild through a prairie. He had not had to do that in a long time. He used to do it all the time, however, whenever his father was abusing him. Whenever he didn't like where he was, he'd pretend he was somewhere better. It was usually the same prairie, where horses ran carefree in the sunlight and…

"Why did you call me, Dr. Agari?" Hallom's father questioned of his assistant.

"I don't quite understand how to explain what's going on," Dr. Agari responded, sounding slightly confused as he stared around at the illusion of horses.

"It would appear the runt has finally given in and is showing you how he uses Mind's Eye."

"It would appear so on the surface Sir, yes. However, there is absolutely no way to pinpoint where it is coming from. They're memories and emotions that seem to be coming from his being as a whole, almost like he's creating a personal shield to block our attacks."

Dr. Thinity thought for a while before simply stating, "Push harder," and leaving the room. Agari continued for quite some time, until he decided to retreat to come up with a better plan. Hallom just laid there for a while before letting his mind return to Maldwyn. The dragon opened his wings to fly away the second Hallom's mind reached him. He was healed, healthy, and moving on. Before he left, though, he mentioned, _She's calling for you._

_What?_ Hallom questioned, confused.

_Your girl. She's calling for you._ Then he was gone.

Hallom had to think for quite a while before he finally came to a conclusion. _Tiara was following me,_ he remembered. Retracing every step he had taken to get to the room he was in then, Hallom reached out to me with his mind.

He eventually found me, sitting in a sweat exactly where I had gotten lost at. I had been sitting there for about thirty hours, scared to death, and I was starting to get paranoid. Every little noise made me jump. Even when I first heard his soft voice whisper, _Tiara, are you all right,_ I was terrified. Was I starting to hear things?

Then a faded image of him appeared in life size before me, and I realized he was using Mind's Eye to find me as he continued gently, _Follow me._


	25. Chapter 24 If they find out

"You are to be the hero of this group then?" Jafar mocked Becca. "Let's see how well you perform against me. You know how it ends," he held out one hand. "All of you dead, or me in my lamp," he held out the other hand with his black lamp in it. He surrounded his black lamp with a ball of light that somehow held it in position, floating above any of their reach.

Then, he pointed to his left, and a stream of light shot out creating a canyon in the ground. Nehemiah was suddenly standing on a small wooden platform, hands tied behind his back and blindfolded, over the lava filled crevice (and yes, this happens to be the same canyon as the other one. They are that close to each other).

Jafar continued to explain, "Your challenge is to get me in the lamp before he hits the lava."

"What do you mean by 'he hits the lava'?" Chiyo inquired skeptically.

Jafar didn't say anything in response, but he didn't need to. The platform Nehemiah was standing on started sinking down.

Becca quickly came up with an idea, suggesting, "You distract him, I'll grab the lamp."

"Me?" Chiyo questioned.

That was sprung on her too fast. She couldn't come up with any great ideas, but Becca was already charging toward the lamp. Jafar used his genie powers to turn Becca's sword into a useless, bendy straw, and Chiyo had to do something before he turned all of her into something like a spork. She dashed forward, throwing two sharp rings toward Jafar. With simply the point of his finger, both of them dissolved into piles of dust. Nehemiah dropped another notch. You could tell he was nervous by the way he shifted uncomfortably. Chiyo stopped in her tracks, thinking, _Well that didn't work too well._

Jafar laughed, pointing his finger directly at Chiyo and commenting, "Now let us cut you down to size, shall we?"

Another stream of electric-looking flow came out of his finger, and Chiyo immediately Chibified. The new two-feet-tall version of her was mostly head and had hair all the way to the ground. It wasn't necessarily the greatest fighting form…until she looked at him angrily, and her teeth were suddenly shark teeth, each as big as her humongous eyes. Her arms flailed wildly as she charged him and took a huge bite out of his tail. Meanwhile, Becca found a large tree to climb so she could reach the inaccessible lamp.

"That wasn't your best move," Chiyo's small voice screamed rabidly. "I can still kick your BUTT!"

She charged Jafar again. All he did was wrap some of his airy, genie tail around her arms, and she couldn't move at all. She started shouting angrily at him, her large teeth chomping around, but he still didn't let go. In fact, he also noticed Becca hanging off a branch, trying to reach the lamp. He pointed a finger to her, and the branch cracked. Becca had just enough time to scramble back to the trunk before it crashed to the ground. Nehemiah dropped another notch.

Nehemiah knew he couldn't get off the platform to help the two girls. He had tried already and quickly found out he was floating, with nothing connecting the platform to the edge of the canyon. Just because he couldn't assist them physically, however, did not mean he was of no help at all. Leaning his head back, Nehemiah let out a very strange bird call that should sound a little familiar. Jafar looked curiously to Nehemiah, obviously not understanding what had been done. With the snap of his fingers, the cloth that had been blindfolding Nehemiah covered his mouth instead. Finally realizing where he was—as the platform he was on dropped again—Nehemiah looked around himself, petrified.

Hearing the bird call, Nori turned around in shock. "Nehemiah," he called back.

Dusty grabbed his hand and dragged him, along with Warren, through the real gate to Central City saying, "Remember what you said? Finish your own mission before helping the other group."

"I know," Nori agreed. "He wasn't calling me anyways. It just worried me." He glanced up at the arena shaped gateway they had entered through. It was just a small deviation from the city wall which seemed to go on forever.

When they made it all the way through the arena shaped dome, an armored soldier stepped in front of them with a spear. "Who goes there?" He questioned.

Nori and Dusty looked at each other at a loss for words. Obviously they had to say something special, but what? Just their names wouldn't do. All Nori could think of to do was point behind him and say, "We've got OEOHFPPE with us." Thankfully, when Nori gestured toward the back, he ended up pointing straight to Warren who helpfully put an arm around each of his two friends.

"I'm back," he announced, "and I bring friends. Sorry they're a little bit shy." While he said that, he teasingly pinched Nori's cheek.

"Warren Peace?" The guard asked, so shocked that he had to remove his helmet to confirm.

"Troy Miller? What a surprise to see you first thing when I get back."

"You know him?" Nori inquired, cocking his head to the side at the boy with the dirty blonde, stringy hair that barely hung down in his eyes.

"Yo Dude," Troy responded in a strong surfer accent, "Peace here an' I was like best buds 'fore he ever left Central City…So what brings you back to this side of _**Fiction-land**_? Are you staying, or just passin' through?"

"Just passing through unfortunately. A friend of ours actually got lost and we're on a rescue mission. Perhaps once we've found him I will have more time to visit."

"He got lost in the forest? And he's from your side of town? He's dead already."

"Ah, don't you think I'd know that? No, he's been here before. You've actually met him before."

"Dude, why didn't you say so? Who is it?"

Warren looked like he was trying to answer, but nothing was coming out. As Nori recognized the problem, he answered for Warren, "Roxas."

Troy laughed. "You're still looking for that kid? No one's seen him in several months."

Smiling mischievously, Warren commented, "That's because he's been with me the whole time."

Troy laughed in disbelief. "No way! Really? Like the _whole _time?" Warren didn't respond, but he didn't need to. Troy understood. "How'd he get lost out here?"

Not wanting to explain why they sent Roxas to the castle, Warren just shrugged.

"What can I do to help Man?"

Again, Warren wasn't sure what to say, so again, Nori responded in his place, "Don't tell anybody."

Then Warren came up with something and added, "Buy us something to eat."

Looking to the watch on his wrist, Troy asked, "At this time of day? Well, I'll see what I can't do."

I also had just entered through a gate to Central City—though it was a different gate—following behind Hallom, when he suddenly turned to me nervously and said, "Tiara, I've got to leave for a second. Please don't move. I'll be back in a second."

He almost disappeared, but I stopped him. "No, don't leave me!"

For some reason, he looked behind him. "I-I have to. I promise I'll be back in a second."

"Why do you have to go?"

"It's too long to explain," he whispered, looking behind again, "I have to go now. Let me explain when I come back."

I didn't say anything that time, but I looked scared about being there alone, which concerned him. "They'll kill me Tiara…you know that? If they find out that I'm bringing you here."

"How are they going to find that out? It's all in your mind," I began.

He never got the chance to respond because another figure with similar features appeared in the picture, bragging, "Caught you. It really wasn't that hard. You just need to know when to look, something Dr. Agari hasn't quite learned yet. So who's the girl you're talking too?"

"Hallom?" I questioned, confused as to what was happening.

"Wh-what girl?" Hallom asked nervously. "I'm not talking to anyone."

"I'm not as stupid as you are," the man said. Hallom had the look on his face like he might attack the man. The man simply smiled in return, and the vision of Hallom collapsed to his hands and knees, flickering for a second.

"Well then," Hallom noted painfully from the ground after a moment, "if they already know about you…might as well keep coming." He climbed to his feet, grabbed my hand, and ran off, dragging me behind. "You might just get here before I die."

"You're leading her here?" The man demanded in shock, sounding distant because we were running away from the illusion of him. I could only suppose, however, that he was still near Hallom wherever they were. He continued, "To think you'd have the audacity to do something like that in my presence…"

Hallom toppled again, but he was instantly back on his feet, always running. "W-whatever you do," he panted, "don't let go of me, or I might let go back."

By then, Jafar had destroyed most of the tree Becca was clinging to. She wrapped herself around the trunk like it was her only tie to life. Once again, he reached a finger toward her, preparing to take out another section of the tree—most likely the trunk underneath her. Chiyo just watched on helplessly, and Nehemiah couldn't even watch anymore because he was so far down in the canyon. As the tree fell, and Becca flew toward the ground, she grabbed the lamp in the last second. Miraculously, instead of falling to the hard forest floor, she splashed onto—of all things—the magic carpet.

For some reason, Iago had to bring the magic carpet along when he responded to Nehemiah's call this time. Whether there was a good reason for it or not, it certainly came in handy that it could catch Becca in the middle of her fall. As soon as Becca had a second to thank heavens she was alive, Iago grabbed the lamp from her and flew towards the canyon. Becca took the carpet and flew to get Chiyo from Jafar's grasp.

After they swooped down and picked Chiyo up, the carpet flew several rushed circles around Jafar so he couldn't stop Iago from dropping the lamp in the lava. Jafar tried to hit the carpet with one of his finger streams, but the carpet was too fast. A couple seconds later, Jafar was sucked into the lava pit. The magic carpet let nauseated Becca and Chiyo down and then flew over to Iago.

"Well, it was nice working with you," Iago noted, "But I better get outta here before the forest finds my weakness and decides to attack me too. You're on your own from here." He turned to fly off.

"No wait!" Becca called after him, but instead of him coming back, the carpet flew off too.

Chiyo looked up at Becca stating about her new chibi form, "Now I've got to try to remember how to undo this."

"I think right now there's something more important," Becca responded.

"Nehemiah," Chiyo suddenly remembered.

The two girls immediately rushed to the edge of the canyon and stared down at their dazed friend. He was over halfway down to the lava.

"Well, who's gonna climb down there to get him now?" Chiyo wondered timidly.

"I'm afraid of heights," Becca excused.

"But I'm afraid of lava," Chiyo responded.

"You're just saying that to get out of it."

"Even if I was, I'm only two feet tall! What am I supposed to do to help?"

"It would have been nice of Magic Carpet to hang around a while," Becca complained.

"Yeah, well it didn't, so we've gotta think of something before Miah dies," Chiyo insisted at the same time as the platform dropped again.

Becca looked at Chiyo, probably about ready to rip her head off for thinking she didn't know that already, but instead, Becca got an idea. Chiyo noticed the smile spread across Becca's face and asked, "What?"

"You're small enough to fit on the platform with him," Becca answered.

"What! How is that gonna help?"

Picking up Chiyo, Becca threw her onto the platform while explaining, "Untie him and then you can use the rope to climb up."

Chiyo glared angrily at Becca, but when the platform dropped again, she quickly obeyed. As soon as Nehemiah was untied, she threw the rope up to Becca who braced herself for both people to climb up it. Nehemiah grabbed the rope to start climbing and looked back for a second to see Chiyo was absolutely terrified. He called her name a few times, with no response. When the platform dropped one more time, and he could almost not reach the rope anymore, he took Chiyo by the hand and pulled her up with him.

Happily, they both made it out of the canyon safely and moved on toward the next challenge. A couple minutes later, the temperature suddenly dropped drastically. After stepping through a few trees, they found themselves staring at a huge sea of ice that stretched for miles. Chiyo—who had since regained her normal size—shivered. This was going to be a long walk. Of course, before I get too caught up in the details of just how much trouble the threesome were going to be in, it would probably be a good idea to mention what was going on at the Castle That Never Was.

Zexion was in the new prison-rock-room place—that one place where Roxas, Wesley, and Demyx were being held. He had just finished questioning Wesley to make sure every memory had come back and in order. After taking one last look at his notes to make sure he had left out nothing, Zexion turned his attention to Roxas and Demyx across the room.

"You two, come with me," he ordered, forming a portal to leave the room. They both climbed curiously to their feet and followed him. As soon as all three were back in a hallway near the lab, Zexion continued specifically to Demyx, "Number Three awaits you atop the castle…As for you Roxas, we're going to do everything possible to fix you."

Demyx turned in complete confusion and walked toward the top of the castle. He found Xaldin waiting for him, as said, at the top of the tallest tower. The number three man stood there, distantly admiring Kingdom Hearts—a large heart shaped collection of the hearts of any person ever killed by the Heartless. Demyx stood behind him for a while, not wanting to interrupt his superior's musing, or even worse, find out he was in trouble.

After a second, he scratched his head and began, "Uh…hi. You wanted to see me?"

Xaldin gestured him to step forward and admire Kingdom Hearts as well, which Demyx obeyed reluctantly. Before saying anything, the two Nobodies stood in silence for a long while.

Finally, Xaldin ended the awkwardness with, "You've been told enough times the power of Kingdom Hearts to appreciate it by now."

"Yes," Demyx replied, on second thought adding, "Sir."

"Unity is what it stands for. Nothing else could join all of us together toward one goal."

"Of…course Sir," Demyx agreed, clearly perplexed. This conversation was almost as awkward as the silence that had preceded it.

"You discarded that unity, forsook the authorities." Xaldin paused, building a little more tension. "Even if you are right, you must _never_ oppose your superiors. Do you understand that? You must stand behind us in whatever decision we make. That is what holds this organization together."

"Yes Sir," Demyx repeated again.

Another long pause passed before Xaldin stated, "Do not speak a word of our plans that you heard to another member."

"What?" Demyx asked in shock, "You're letting me out?"

"Yes," Xaldin replied shortly.

"Why? I thought you were mad."

"Do not ask questions. Would you prefer I send you back to The Island?"

"No Sir," Demyx responded, returning to the way he had been before the big news.

After a while, Xaldin added, "You are not _just_ to be released. You will not do anything—in or out of the castle—without the permission and presence of a superior. Do you understand?"

"Yes Sir."

"And believe me, we'll be observing you. One misstep and you'll be nothing more than just a small cloud of black smoke." As he said that, he gestured with his hands in the shape of a small explosion—in a _poof! You'll fade_ kinda way. Then, a portal appeared across the balcony, and Xaldin walked through it, leaving Demyx unattended at the top of the castle.


	26. Chapter 25 To be so close

Warren, Nori, and Dusty sat at a small café booth. Warren and Nori were on one side, and Dusty was on the other. Just the minute before, another strange wave had come over Warren, and he just fell asleep on Nori's arm. After a while of Nori and Dusty just staring skeptically at one another across the table, Troy came back with four milkshakes. He caught sight of Warren and was greatly taken aback. How was it possible that his friend could be…Then, he realized what it was and laughed.

"So, I guess the transformation does exist," he mentioned.

"The transformation?" Nori wondered, not yet familiar with the expression.

"Yeah, it's like a common legend that the process of going between light and dark is worse than actually being in one or the other. It is so totally hitting him worse than most people."

Nori and Dusty glanced at each other and both agreed, "Yeah."

"He's only tried to rip my head off like four times," Nori began.

"And then he saved my life, and there was a whole hour he wouldn't stop laughing, but he was scared to death of OEOHFPPE, and then he was so nice to you," Dusty continued.

"I thought you two were supposed to be shy."

"And I thought you were a Roman soldier," Dusty replied with a little attitude.

Nori decided he should explain, "Warren probably just didn't want us to say something out of place, since he didn't know who you were yet, and we really wanted to get in the city."

"Dudes, why did you want to get into the city so bad if Roxas is lost somewhere in the forest?" Troy asked curiously.

"Well…we actually know where Roxas is. We just don't know how to get there," Nori answered.

"And this book we have told us we have to come here first," Dusty finished, "so that we can find 'The Chosen One,' whatever that means."

Troy frowned for a while, seeming to be very confused, before finally sitting down and responding, "It's a good thing that there, like, aren't many people here, 'cuz you dudes would have been in big trouble for saying that."

"What?" Nori questioned curiously.

"The Chosen Ones…they're girls who spend their entire lives as six year olds and lead people to places in the forest no one is supposed to find. If anyone finds out you're lookin' for one of those places, the king will have you executed before you even make it close to where you're goin'."

Smiling slightly, Nori stated, "We all prepared for that before we decided to take this journey. If you only knew where Roxas was, you could have assumed that."

"I'm not so sure I want to know anymore," Troy interrupted. "I'll help you dudes a little, but I don't want to get in trouble, all right Man?"

"So where is this girl we can't mention?" Dusty inquired.

"Depends on where you're goin'," Troy replied.

Suddenly, Nori went flying out of the booth. Warren had woken up and now towered over Nori angrily as if it were Nori's fault he had fallen asleep. He raised his hand like he might backslap Nori except his hand was filled with fire. Nervously, Nori tried to scramble backwards. Dusty and Troy lunged at Warren to stop him. They restrained his arms, and Warren struggled to get free.

After a second of vain struggling, Warren growled, "You leave my sister out of this!"

All three looked at him and questioned, "Your sister?"

It wasn't too long after that, that the four of them knocked on the door of an average house on an average street in the middle of Central City. A small girl opened the door. Seeing the four people there, she focused on Warren.

"Warren!" She exclaimed, running and jumping into the arms of the teenage pyro.

"Madeline," Warren replied, a tear rolling down his cheek.

Dusty looked curiously to Nori. "Is that even possible…for him to cry?"

"I saw it once," Nori replied, "when he got salsa in his eye."

"Would you stop whispering? You're ruining my reunion here," Warren complained.

Slightly embarrassed, Dusty looked up and asked, "So is this your sister?"

"Yes, I would like you two to meet Madeline, she's six."

"Hello everybody," Madeline greeted, waving excitedly.

"Still six…" Dusty noted, understanding now, "does that make you one of the 'Chosen Ones'?"

Madeline looked at Warren in shock. "You're meaning to say, that after all this time, you came back here just because I'm one of those girls."

"Uh," Warren had to think for a second, "I didn't even know we were coming back here."

"Oh, fine, where are you guys going?"

"The…Castle That Never Was."

"Oh God," Troy muttered as Madeline let the four into her house. "I thought you guys said he was lost, not back home at the castle. What on earth did you get me into?"

As we ran along, the vision of Hallom suddenly turned into an eight year old before my eyes. A voice with no face stated, "You are an abomination."

"W-what's an abomination?" The small wolf asked, stopping and looking around nervously.

"Something so ugly, so unnatural, that even it's own mother can't stand to look in it's face."

That look which had become so familiar once again spread across Hallom's face, and he laid his ears back. The voice went away, but Hallom just stood there, seeming shocked that he'd just been told his mother hated him. I tried to get his attention, to remind him to keep moving, by saying his name. It certainly caught his attention, but not in a good way. He jumped slightly at the sound of my voice and looked at me fearfully.

"Who are you?" He inquired timidly.

"Someone who doesn't mind looking at your adorable little ears, who you promised you'd take someplace."

He thought for a second before the vision faded back into the regular Hallom with a confused look on his face. I could tell he recognized me again, though, and he ran off again. It wasn't very long before he stopped, exhausted, outside of a warehouse. Squinting away some pain, the vision of him began to fade away.

I tried to stop him, but he just muttered, "Hide here. Don't come in until they leave."

"They?" I wondered, but it was too late. Hallom was gone.

After a few moments of standing there visibly out of place, I snuck over to the warehouse and peaked through a conveniently located window. Hallom was lying there motionless on a cement floor. Considering he had been walking with me the moment before, I couldn't believe things were that serious. There were two scientist-looking men in white coats obviously causing his pain, and there were illusions of horses spread randomly across the room. I didn't realize it, but Hallom was once again trying to block away their attacks.

It was actually kind of working, only letting Dr. Agari through sometimes. Only one more attack was necessary, though. It punched through Hallom's defenses, disintegrating his horses. That would have been the perfect time to do all their research on his helpless mind. However, a third person entered the room, telling the two scientists there was something more urgent for them to care for. The two of them left, and the third man stayed to stand guard.

Even though Hallom told me to wait until they were all gone, I couldn't just sit there watching him lay there like that. I snuck around to the main entrance to the warehouse, and in through the door. To the side of me was what looked like a punch in box, and next to it was a rack full of white coats. Grabbing one, I slipped it on and took a bag full of important looking stuff with a clipboard. Then, I headed off through the dark abandoned hallways.

There were people off in other little hallways, but none of them were close enough to notice me. About halfway down the hallway, I spotted my first person, but they just smiled and nodded. I returned the gesture. Perhaps it was too dark for them to recognize me as an imposter. I had to turn down one of the crowded hallways to get to Hallom's room. In fact, Hallom's room was in that hallway. One man stood guard at the door, following his instructions to let no one enter or exit the room. What was I going to do?

I blended myself into the shadows near the wall to look through the things I had in my bag. There were half a dozen saline solutions and empty needles to give IVs, tons of gauze, something that looked like a brain scan of one of their other experiments, and a metal bowl. The bowl was the best thing in there. I supposed I would have no other option. Other people were surely going to see or hear that. I would just have to be fast enough.

After taking a couple deep breaths, I charged the man, smacking him as hard as I could on the head with the bowl. He turned around and looked at me. It hadn't been hard enough, so I smacked him again before he could do anything to me. That time it broke his nose. I smashed his head against the wall, and finally, he passed out. Running straight to Hallom, I didn't even bother to ask if he was awake. He clearly couldn't walk anyway, so I just picked him up and threw him over my shoulder.

I ran back to the door of the room, reaching there just before a mob of people in white coats. I ran as fast as I could with a person on my back, which—small as he was—wasn't very fast. Suddenly, an emergency alarm and red lights began flashing. That meant the two main scientists would probably be back soon. Hallom laid his ears back, trying to lessen the loud noise. At least I knew he was alive, perhaps not functioning, but alive.

Once I finally made it out of the building, it wasn't too hard to get away from the reach of the white-coated men. There were so many other people around that they couldn't follow me, so I stopped running only a block away from the warehouse. Remembering the path Hallom had led me on through the city, I carried him back to the forest. A couple feet into the forest, I dropped to my knees, also dropping him to the ground.

I just looked at him for a moment, and then, with tears in my eyes, I questioned, "Hallom I'm lost. Where are we going? How do we get there? What did they do to you? Who were they? Are you going to be okay?"

He opened his eyes slightly for a moment and then answered only one of my questions. Slowly, painfully, he moved one of his arms just barely enough for me to see him point to his right. I swallowed back the urge to cry because that was all he could do. Turning my back to him, I grabbed his hands and pulled him up for the longest piggyback ride I would ever give anyone. Of course, it started raining.

Wesley looked up from the ground at four figures, their faces completely cloaked by their black hoods. One of them had the voice of a girl and a huge syringe. They definitely weren't the only four people he thought would still have access to him. The four people laughed and mocked him until one of them with a deep voice ordered that they "get it on." As commanded, the girl jabbed the needle into Wesley's thigh.

The voices started to fade into the distance as the chemical took effect. All the colors turned purple, and Wesley felt like he was falling. After a couple seconds, he ripped a hole in the purple he was falling through, and fell onto a beautiful beach with a sky that reached as far as you could see. There was no breeze, nor any trees, just the sand and the sky. Wesley grabbed a handful, letting the sand slip out between his fingers. He smiled.

The people watching him wondered why he smiled. IN fact, another girl asked, "Did it not work?"

"Why is he happy?" The first added.

Wesley didn't care. He laid lazily under the sky, thanking fate he could just imagine himself somewhere other than that hole. Minutes passed as he just basked contently. After not too long, however, his dagger was ripped from its sheath. It hovered above him for a little while, and Wesley just stared at it in a daze until it stabbed into his chest.

Immediately, Wesley jumped to his feet, pulling the dagger from his chest. It tried to get out of his grasp, but Wesley held tight. He took it and swung it around him. A second later, a staff-like weapon pierced through him. That, added to the wound in his chest, brought him to the ground.

The man with the deep voice shuddered as his weapon disappeared. There was so much blood. He hadn't seen blood in a very long time. It had been necessary, though. The pirate had been half-dead, and he'd still been able to take out all three fanfic members before they could even form their weapons. He was certainly too strong of an opponent. The man was definitely glad he'd killed Wesley, but he couldn't stand to look at it anymore. He left, leaving Wesley there dying, but imagining he was on a beach, dreaming of death.

Warren, his sister, Dusty, Troy, and Nori were now all on their way through the forest again. The two new additions were fairly resentful about going to break Roxas out of the Castle That Never Was, but for some reason, they still helped. They were about to go over a bridge when Madeline stopped, looking behind her warily. A second later, she let out some sort of shrill call, which led a Hubabaloo to show itself with an aggravated hiss.

"Oh great," Troy complained, being the drama queen of the group, "what are we gonna do now, Man?"

"This," Dusty responded, pulling a Three Musketeer bar from her backpack, unwrapping it, and tossing it past the creature. It ran off, more interested in the chocolate.

Madeline looked awed. "Even I didn't know that," she commented, "all I knew is their easier to beat if you draw them out of hiding first."

Then, they hurried across the bridge. It was unstable but safe enough if you watched your step and stayed close to a side. They were halfway across when the Hubabaloo—yes "the," not "a," as in the same one as before—appeared on the other side of the bridge, waving evilly. Dusty scrambled to get another chocolate bar, but before she did, the Hubabaloo cut the bridge away from the other side.

The bridge started falling. Everyone hooked hands, and Nori grabbed the bridge and Dusty. Dusty grabbed Troy, Troy grabbed Warren, and Warren grabbed his sister. They paused for a second to figure out what to do from there. The pause was a bad idea. The Hubabaloo jumped across the huge gap, landing on Troy's back.

"Nori! Do something!" Dusty shouted.

Nori looked down, thinking_, It's bad enough I have to hold all you up. How am I supposed to do something with zero hands?_ He never got a chance to think of a plan, however. The extra weight from the Hubabaloo—which was heavier than it would seem—caused the plank Nori was holding to break. The Hubabaloo jumped onto the ledge quickly because it didn't like the raging river the five travelers were about to fall into.

All five of them returned to the surface as quickly as possible and then looked around to make sure they were all there. The water was quickly pushing them downstream. At first, it was just slightly annoying to Madeline who knew they were getting pushed off course. Everyone tried to swim toward the shore, but not a single one made it there. A waterfall showed up in front of them, sucking them even faster to their new doom.

Fortunately for them, there was a rock at the edge of the falls. Madeline made it there first. Then Dusty, Troy, and Warren made it. The rock was just outside of Nori's reach, though. He desperately grabbed for it in vain.

Dusty looked in shock to Warren, who was on that side of the rock. "Warren! Catch him!" Warren just sat there, perched on the rock like he was looking for a fish to jump out of the water. "Warren!" Dusty shouted again, as Nori passed right by him.

"No," Warren replied bluntly.

"No!" Dusty was horrified as Nori tumbled over the edge. Since she was on the tip of the rock, it was up to her to grab Nori. She reached over the rock edge and grabbed his wrist.

Nori opened his eyes when he realized he wasn't falling. First, he looked down at where he would have fallen, and then up at Dusty so relieved. Hanging there over the edge by one hand was significantly better than knowing you were falling. Dusty started trying to pull him back up to the rock, but the rock was slippery. She lost her footing and almost fell herself. Troy grabbed onto her, and they both started pulling Nori up together.

It was working really well until Dusty collapsed unexpectedly and began shivering. Troy looked at his hands, perplexed, stating, "I swear I didn't do it," as Warren shot a glare at him. Nori had been able to catch himself on the very edge of the rock instead of starting to fall again, but a piece of the rock crumbled, leaving him dangling by just his left hand. Warren only noticed Dusty. He rolled her onto her back and wiped a strand of hair from her face.

After a second, he asked, "Are you all right?"

Dusty stuttered through chattering teeth, "I-I-I'm c-col-ld."

Warren took off his coat, and Troy—seeing it but not understanding it—inquired, "Dude, why're you giving the chick a wet coat to keep her warm?"

Tossing the coat at Troy, Warren ordered, "Hold this." He rolled up his sleeves and pulled Dusty up into his arms. Clutching her to his chest, and sliding his hands up the back of her shirt, he began transferring heat from his body to hers. A moment later, the shivering calmed down a bit.

Warren leaned his forehead against hers, whispering, "Is that better?"

She nodded slightly. After taking a couple deep breaths, she opened her eyes, and they gazed straight into his. The mystery, the danger…To be so close…It just felt right. She turned her head to the side for just one—just a little one. Halfway expecting Warren to react violently, Dusty quickly pulled away. Warren held her close, though, instead returning the kiss ever more passionately. When it gradually ended, they looked back into the eyes of one another, and Dusty instantly dissolved into the night.

This time it was Warren's turn to glance down at his now empty hands. Madeline and Troy also stared in shock where Dusty had sat the second before. Where could she possibly have gone? Why did it have to be at such an inconvenient time? All these questions flooding their minds at the same moment as Nori still hung precariously from a slippery rock over a huge waterfall.


	27. Chapter 26 In the Castle

It was raining…hard. I had been having a hard enough time carrying Hallom through the forest before it started pouring. By then, I had grown too tired to carry him any longer. When I first dropped him from my back, in desperate need of a break, he just muttered, "Keep moving," and pointed out the next direction to go.

"I…I can't carry you…anymore," I panted.

Since he didn't say anything in return, I grabbed his arm and drug him a little ways. I stopped, looking back to him to se what he thought. His expression hadn't changed a bit since we left the warehouse. He just stared in some sort of dazed recovery and pointed me in the right direction. I pulled him along for quite a while, until I got tired again.

"Can't you walk yet?" I questioned, frustrated and exhausted, pulling him to his feet and trying to get him to stand up on his own.

He didn't say anything. His head just drooped down in my arms. I tried to push it back up, hoping it would work better the second time. It didn't work any better, and that time, when Hallom fell, I wasn't there to catch him. I too collapsed to the ground, shaking in an almost anaphylactic shock.

Hallom looked over to me from where he'd fallen. He looked like he slightly understood what was happening to me. That made one of us, since I had no clue. I just knew I was freezing cold and my stomach was cramping. Blinking back the pain it caused him, Hallom pulled himself to me and wrapped his arms around my body. He put one hand on my face, but pulled it off quickly, in shock.

"Y-you've got a fever," he stumbled in confusion.

"A…a fever?" I managed to get out. "I-I'm soooo cold."

Neither of us spoke for a while after that. He just held me as I quivered away in the pouring rain until I suddenly disappeared from his grasp, leaving him helpless in the middle of the forest.

Chiyo clung tight to Becca as they followed Nehemiah through the frozen wasteland. How much longer could it possibly be cold? They had all brought jackets and hats, but it was by no means enough to keep them warm. Nehemiah constantly pressed on, shivering as he continued to watch their compass. They had to keep moving northwest. Too bad they hadn't known it would be so cold. The sky was dark; the wind blew bits of ice at them; the snow never ceased crunching beneath their feet. They knew it was really cold when they could see their breath. Still, red nosed and numb toed, they pressed on.

All of a sudden, Becca fell to her knees in a burst of shivering, stuttering, "I-It's soooo c-cold."

"You're just now realizing this?" Nehemiah inquired, a little humor in his voice.

"Quit it Nehemiah," Chiyo ordered. "I think something's really wrong."

Just like Dusty and I, after a moment or so, she disappeared.

Nehemiah kept walking and complained, "Great. Just as soon as we finish this rescue mission we'll have to go find her."

"You could try being a little more sympathetic," Chiyo noted. "I mean, she could be in danger."

"How do you expect me to feel sympathy for her when I've been freezing my butt off for an hour? I'm sure she's some place warm by now."

"Nehemiah!"

"Remind me later when I'll actually care. Right now, the faster we get to Tia Dalma, the better."

"Uh…Nehemiah," Chiyo began as she stepped off of the ice and into sand, "I'm not cold anymore."

The two of them looked up at the piles of sand making up some sort of African desert, ad the temperature instantly rose at least 70 degrees. They pressed through the constantly changing dunes, trying their best to pursue a northwestern path. At the top of one such constantly changing dunes, however, the two of them fell, tumbling over the edge and down to the bottom. Along the way, Nehemiah dropped the compass, and it was instantly buried in sand.

You would think they could monitor their course by watching the sun. After all, a blistering hot desert must have a sun, but there wasn't one. Exhausted, the two picked themselves off the ground and kept walking. At least, as Nehemiah put it, if they kept moving, they'd eventually make it out of the sand. They could figure out where they were later. After what seemed like forever, a pleasant smell reached both noses.

"Rain?" Chiyo thought.

"Plants," Nehemiah corrected, and they both took off running to it.

They had both been correct, as they quickly returned to a normal area of the forest where rain was pouring down. Nehemiah pulled out the map as they walked. They were trying to find some big landmark that might be on the map somewhere so they could determine their location. At the moment, however, all they could see was trees and rain.

For several minutes, they walked on like that, quietly searching for notable structures until Chiyo pointed out, "Hey Nehemiah, look. A boy."

Nehemiah looked a few feet away to the motionless boy, asking, "Do you think it's a trap?"

"What do you mean?"

"It could be one of those tricks of the forest. You get close to see if he's okay, and he attacks."

"I don't think so," Chiyo disagreed, "Miyagi-osan never said anything about it." She walked toward the boy.

Nehemiah cautiously followed, mentioning, "Unless, of course, your weakness is helping people, like mine is."

"Oh, come on Miah," Chiyo urged, bending down to turn the boy onto his back. As soon as she had, Nehemiah grabbed her away from the still motionless body. He sighed in relief as she mocked, "Miyagi-osan really got you scared, didn't he?" She knelt down to feel his pulse. "He's still alive Miah. We should do something."

Nehemiah looked away like he was trying to refuse. While he wasn't paying attention, Chiyo screamed. He immediately turned back to her and pulled her away again. She shook out her hand, and they both looked into the now open eyes of the boy. As frightened as Chiyo had been, the boy looked even more scared. For some reason, the hopeless look on his face won over Nehemiah.

"Are you all right?" He inquired.

"Yeah," Chiyo answered, "just a little surprised."

"Well that's good, but I was talking to him."

Chiyo smiled, and the boy slowly nodded his head.

"Can you even move?" Nehemiah questioned. After a few seconds in which only the boy himself knew he was trying to stand, the boy shook his head slightly. Nehemiah continued, "Here, let us help you."

They quickly pulled him up in a sitting position, leaning him against a tree, as Chiyo wondered, "What happened to you?"

He just shrugged.

"How did you get out here if you can't even move?"

"A girl," he said quietly.

"Where is she now?" Nehemiah demanded curiously.

Another shrug accompanied a single word: "Gone."

"She just left you here?" Chiyo seemed shocked.

"Well it's…it's not exactly like that," he muttered.

"Then what did happen?" Came the slightly frustrated question from Nehemiah, but it got no more response than a halfhearted shrug.

They waited silently for a long time until the boy felt uncomfortable and answered, "A lot."

Realizing he wasn't going to get more from the boy, Nehemiah stated, "Well, my friend thinks we should help you, but you've gotta know we have something to do along the way. As long as you don't mind us making a stop, we'll get you help."

The boy nodded. He seemed to be thinking about something else.

Chiyo slid down a tree to the ground with a sigh, mentioning, "Now if only we knew how to get where we're going."

"That would be helpful," Nehemiah agreed.

"Where are you going?" The boy asked after a while, realizing he'd have to help them to get help himself.

Nehemiah pulled out the map and pointed to the 'X' Nori had drawn. "There."

"The…island?" The boy questioned, just to make sure he'd seen the right thing.

"Island? I don't see any water," Chiyo noted, examining the area around the 'X' on the map.

"Well, it's…uh, never mind."

"You know the area?" Nehemiah inquired with anticipation.

He nodded again.

"Can you take us there?" Chiyo was getting excited.

"Why? Why do you want to go…there?"

"Do you not want to go there?"

The boy slowly shook his head. "No one does."

"We don't want to either," Nehemiah reassured. "Believe me, but we have to. We told our friend we would meet someone there."

The boy tried to work through it in his head, first asking himself, _Who would agree to a rendezvous there? There wasn't anyone there except…the queen, and Lionel's invisible servant who brought food every day. Unless they were…he'd ask._

"Nori," the boy began and then stopped.

"What?"

"Your friend…Nori."

"How did you know that?" Chiyo wondered in amazement.

"I just came from there," he replied. "It's that way. But…I wasn't…going to go back."

Suddenly, Nori slipped. He called for help just before it happened, but it seemed that everyone was too preoccupied by whatever happened to Dusty to notice as his last finger lost its grip on the rock. He thought for sure no one would realize he'd fallen when he started to feel that dropping sensation in his stomach. A second seemed to last an hour before he stopped abruptly from a jerk on his shirt.

Nori looked up just in time to see Warren rip him back up onto the rock, commenting, "Get up here. We've got a friend to save still. Plus, I want to make sure you die by my hands." He smiled mischievously, and Nori smiled back, knowing it was meant as a joke. The normal Warren had returned.

The group of four quickly got of the rock—it doesn't matter how, just that they did—and headed toward the castle once again. They obviously had a few more encounters with the Hubabaloos; though, none were quite as exciting as the last. Not much horrible happened, since both Warren and Nori had overcome their greatest weaknesses. Warren's had been the control the darkness had over him, and Nori's being Warren. Neither Troy nor Madeline could be bothered by the forest because they both lived in it, making their presence acceptable.

Therefore, they continued on, fairly easily, until they approached the castle. In their way, preventing their grand rescue mission was a neon green hole separating them from the castle door. Out of it just crawled hundreds and thousands of continuously created Heartless. The three boys looked at each other in shock, as if they had expected their entrance to be a bit easier. Madeline just waved and turned to leave.

"This is where my job ends," she announced as she walked away. "It was nice seeing you again brother."

Each one of the three pulled out whatever weapon they might have. Warren's fire was the most useful. All Nori had was a dagger, which was not good for fighting hoards of creatures all seeking his most vital organ. Even worse, was when Troy noticed they had weapons, he ripped the shark tooth necklace off his neck and held it in front of him just to make him feel safe. It was going to be a hard battle. Nori and Warren glanced over to him. He could have at least brought something. Now he was going to be no more help that I would have been in the same situation.

"Now what?" Troy asked, after pretending that he felt secure for a second.

"We fight," Warren replied with a tone that said he thought it was obvious, as each of his arms burst into flames. "I can take out most of these."

"That leaves just one problem," Nori noted. "Once they're all gone, we still can't get into the castle. The hole will still be there."

"I think we'll have to cross that bridge when we get there," Troy mentioned, shaking a Heartless off his arm.

"Now, we fight," Warren finished. It wasn't two seconds before a hundred Heartless in the front had disappeared in a burst of flames. Somehow, though, the total number hadn't seemed to decrease any. "How do they just come back like that?" Warren demanded furiously as the number continued to grow.

"We won't be able to defeat them all," Nori realized. Then, he had an idea. He turned to Toy, "We'll hold 'em off as long as we can. You find a way across." He ran in front of Warren and fell to his knees holding his hands out in the air. Instantly, a wall of light appeared between the three boys and the Heartless.

Warren shaded his eyes from the light, but Nori quickly explained, "They can't see us now. Just get anyone of them that tries to pass the wall."

Compliantly, Warren prepared a ball of fire in his right hand to throw at the first one that might appear around the wall of light. Troy thought really hard for a very long time. There just didn't seem to be any way into the Castle That Never Was.

Marluxia and Lexaeus were still following the path Nori had left behind. They were not aware that the group had separated, so when they found the path following the invisible road, they didn't bother looking for the one Nehemiah had followed. They simply chased Nori, about five minutes behind him the whole time. Marluxia had just gotten off the phone with the castle when Lexaeus pointed a little bit in front of them. A huge pillar of light had just appeared through the forest.

"Nori," Lexaeus stated.

Marluxia added wth a laugh, "He just revealed his location," and they ran off toward the light.

Warren was doing just fine keeping the Heartless from passing their blockade. Nori, however, was growing tired from holding the light for so long. After all, creating a wall of light in the deepest corner of the dark forest was very exhausting.

Just before Nori's strength would have given in, Troy shouted, "Warren! Look out!" He suddenly dove at Warren from behind, pushing him out of the way of a blow from Marluxia's scythe. Unfortunately, Troy couldn't get himself out of the way as well. Both boys turned around, saw Troy, and knew he was dead. Nori's wall of light instantly dissolved from the shock. They both looked furiously to Marluxia and Lexaeus.

Warren was just about to blast the newcomers with fireballs when another voice asked from the door of the castle, "Warren? As in Roxas's friend with the long hair who called Zexy kitten, Warren?"

Surprised, Warren looked behind him to glance curiously at the girl Katex who had said that as Marluxia added, "Roxas's friend Warren who lives in Central City?"

"Yes, that one," Warren agreed, realizing after a second that they were still considering him on their side.

"Then what are you doing here the newly illuminated prince?" Lexaeus questioned, obviously referring to Nori as the prince because the light had been passed down to him by the "queen."

"Um…I," Warren began, at a loss for words. To give him a clue, Nori started back away, looking like he was trying to escape. That did give Warren an idea, and he roughly grabbed Nori by the arm. "I was just bringing him to you."

After both Nobodies looked at Warren skeptically for a second, he continued, "But when I got here, no one would let me in, so I needed his help to protect myself from your Heartless."

They didn't seem too convinced by Warren's story. However, another cloaked man appeared through a portal, immediately grabbed Nori and Warren, and returned to the castle. The two friends looked around in a shocked daze as they realized they were in a completely empty, white room. The cloaked man who had brought them there chuckled from a ways away and threw his hood off, revealing grey hair and orange eyes.

"There is the door," he stated, pointing to his left. "What are you waiting for?"

Nori and Warren looked at each other and then decided to step toward the door. A cage instantly fell from the ceiling, trapping them in a very small space.

Xemnas laughed again. "Welcome to the Castle That Never Was. Did you honestly think I would let you two go? You are our prisoners…our enemies…denizens of light. It isn't like you would find what you're looking for here anyways. Your precious 'Queen' is secured somewhere very far away from here. Does that surprise you? How sad. You traveled so long and so hard just to find you had come so close, yet were still so far. Is this all that's left of your little expedition crew?"

He stopped to shake his head and then continued, "Of course, there is one way to get out. If you can find it, that is, there is a path that leads to the door. I trust you're ingenious enough to find it." With that, he formed a portal and left the room.

Roxas once again sat anxiously in Vexen's laboratory. He looked around curiously as the scientist spoke in the corner with Zexion about how to proceed.

"I'm sure I remember something about a probe and a hat," Vexen mentioned, trying to remember the last thing Roxas would have forgotten.

"Yes," Zexion agreed, "that was before he lost the memories. Afterwards was…'it broke.'"

"How are we supposed to make that into a threat?"

Zexion smiled evilly. "Be creative. I have something else I must care for immediately." Then, he left. Vexen sighed and returned to where Roxas was waiting.

"Why are you so worried?" He began, adding with a smile that made him see like he was lying. "It shouldn't hurt at all. After all, you only tricked us into believing you had returned to us." He pulled the largest needle in his lab from the table near him and filled it with the oddest color potion he could find continuing, "You see this probe? It's filed with a potion specifically designed to turn you into the biggest yaoi character ever."

Roxas looked back at him confused, but the word did give him an eerie feeling inside.

Vexen continued describing, "Yes, you know the kind. Those obviously gay ones that destroy the reputation of the actual character, who love to flaunt their demented personalities in public, continuously displaying their affections for random people…or things…particularly hats."

"Hats?" Roxas questioned, disgustedly.

"Anything…actually, everything."

"Everything?"

Vexen moved to stab the needle in Roxas's collar bone, but just as the boy winced, unable to stop it in anyway, he looked across the room. "Oh dear," he muttered.

"What?" Roxas asked, his eyes instantly flying open.

"It broke…who knows what might happen to you now. As far as my research has gone, you might very well turn into a bridge."

Roxas tried to repeat," What?" but nothing came out. Once again, he reached toward a pounding head and fell into a dream of memories, real and fake.

"The memory bridge," echoed through the darkness.

"We killed the beautiful memory bridge," a voice complained, sounding like he might cry. Then, the face of the pirate boy in the jail cell appeared. He was crying. He cried and sobbed through the darkness, muttering something about hats.

Suddenly, something pushed Roxas to the floor of the cell, restraining him within the body of his dead conscience. His chest filled with a horrible pain. A light filled the cell, revealing several more people. There were the two boys from the picture—Nori and Warren—and the girl from the Island. Wesley was there too, seeming frightened. The girl stole a key from the pirate, and only a moment later, they all left Wesley there by himself to fight Axel.

For some reason, Roxas's mind instantly jumped to the Pig and Whistle. The long haired boy was attacking someone, and Roxas was trying to stop it—still inside the body of his conscience. His conscience got elbowed in the gut, sending him to the floor. Then, the long haired boy threw a ball of fire toward him. A keyblade quickly appeared in his hands to block the flame, but the boy kept coming.

As they scrambled to their feet and ran toward the back of the room, the shorter haired one popped out from behind a counter with a camera. The flash came as a surprise while he explained, "We're making memories. You never know when Warren might do this again."

The conscience was about to mention, "This happens all the time," when Roxas flipped to another memory: sitting at the bar when the picture he had found in his shoe had been taken. He took a giant gulp of the beer he'd been served—his very first one ever—and immediately spit it back out again.

"Awe, you don't like it?" The shorter haired one inquired.

"It's not that bad," the boy with long hair added. "Just try it again."

"No," Roxas insisted. "It's gross."

"Come on," he pushed, holding the glass to Roxas's lips, "open up."

Roxas shook his head. A person next to them at the bar bumped the boy's arm, throwing the beer all over Roxas. Roxas didn't know that part, though, just that the guy with long hair had spilt it over him, and that the bartender had taken a picture of it.

And his memory continued coming back, piece by piece.

Zexion had finally found Xaldin and pulled him aside for a moment. "You know I did some research on the things you said, and the results were definitely conclusive. It seems your pirate friend has a disorder known as Akaoli Effryl. It's apparently a chemical imbalance that makes him rub people wrong. It's nothing his fault. No matter how friendly he is, how well he gets along with someone, they will all eventually want to kill him."

"He…so he's spent his whole life on the brink of being killed is what you're meaning," Xaldin clarified. A nod from Zexion allowed him to add, "That explains some things."

"Yes, certainly," Zexion agreed, "particularly the self destructive things he did, and his general lack of respect for the fragility of life."

"That suddenly makes killing him seem like the merciful thing to do."

"Not exactly. He's got the personality of a fighter, which means he'll keep searching for someone who doesn't hate him, possibly and entire lifetime."

"But he'll never find it." Zexion shook his head after a second, so Xaldin added, "Well, I was headed there right now…"

"What do you intend to do?" Zexion questioned, following curiously.

"I'm not sure yet."

Despite the uncertainty, Xaldin formed a portal, and both of them walked through to Wesley's cell. Standing there, seeming slightly uncomfortable, was Xemnas, staring blankly at a pool of blood as the remnants of three members hung in the air. He seemed somewhat upset. Perhaps it was the blood, perhaps the loss of three of his members, perhaps both. Zexion too was growing uneasy from the sight of so much blood. Xaldin, on the other hand, was just increasingly angry.

"He's dead," Xemnas stated bluntly, confirming their suspicions. After a moment, he asked, "You wouldn't have something to do with it, would you?"

Xaldin frowned slightly. "Why?"

"Only the three of us and Vexen can get in here."

"It couldn't be Number IV or I," Zexion insisted. "That pirate was honest proof of our scientific discovery. We already had to rescue him once."

Both Xemnas and Zexion then turned to Xaldin for a response. Defensively, he answered, "I promised he could die at the hands of the Heartless."

They were both completely shocked by that comment, so it was a moment before Zexion curiously asked, "You did what?"

"It was a small request of his, and I told him I'd talk to you about it…I suppose it's too late now."

"Not necessarily," Zexion mentioned.

Xemnas agreed, "He's right. If it hasn't been too long—which it hasn't, or else he would no longer be here—the Heartless may still be attracted to his heart. That would make a wonderful addition to our collection…Why would you make such a promise if it was, in fact, simply a request? You never seemed like that kind of a person."

After pausing awkwardly to decide how best to explain, Xaldin answered, "He expressed interest in becoming a Nobody. I found it odd, like most of the things he did. It was interesting having him around, trying to figure out what was going through his mind. He's the only person I've ever met who almost got a lie past Luxord…There's just so much left to know about a person with no powers who could defeat one of us. What if we could have gotten that strength on our side? Isn't it a shame?"

Xemnas allowed a slight smile to cross his face, a look that only came about when he was up to something.


	28. Chapter 27 Working it out, kinda

It hadn't been hard for Warren and Nori to find their way out of the cage. In fact, there was an unlocked door. It was that simple. The problem was that, as soon as they got out of that cell, another one fell from the ceiling to cover them. This one was just as easy to get out of. They quickly realized that the cages were leading them someplace specific in a crazy maze of directions. Oddly enough, in the end, the path led straight to the door. On the door was a computer screen with a handful of Japanese words.

"Well Nori, you're the one who reads Japanese. What does it say?" Warren asked.

Nori said a few words from the screen under his breath, translating, "Something like: 'Are you sure you want to do this? Yes or No.'"

"This seems much too easy."

"No kidding…so push yes?"

"Wait! What if it's some sort of trick? Like it'll give us the option we don't select," Warren suggested.

Nori thought for a while before saying, "Then we push no, right? The worst they can do is lock us up again. 'You don't want to leave? Okay, you can stay here forever.' Right?"

Warren shrugged. Nervously, Nori took a deep breath and pressed the button meaning "no." They somewhat expected to be instantly detained, or at least the door to open. Instead a Japanese message flashed across the screen.

Once again, Nori translated, "Too bad. Have a nice day. Touch screen to begin."

"Well," Warren shrugged, touching the bottom right corner. "If that's all that happens, we should try 'yes.'"

The same question reappeared, and they pressed "Yes." The door slid open, revealing Xemnas on the other side with a smirk on his face. Just as Nori and Warren frowned from his expression, one more cage dropped from above. Then, the cage was lifted onto a balcony that Xemnas also floated up to. He directed them to look out at the path they had followed through the room. They stared in shock at the pattern that had been created. It was a word, spelling, "Roxas."

Then, Xemnas held out a piece of paper and explained, "Congratulations on finding your way to the door. Of course, I never promised making it there would spell your freedom. In fact, you've just signed your friend's name on a contract saying he'll work loyally for us as long as he shall live. What good friends you are. So much for a rescue mission, right?"

Warren and Nori were completely stunned by what had just happened. Neither could do more that stare as Xemnas walked away, leaving the two of them in the cage, guilt flooding over them both.

Roxas was just starting to get to the good parts: sea salt ice cream with Axel, pancakes on Thursdays, learning to play Demyx's sitar, the time he and Xigbar got sent to Las Vegas on a mission—what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas! Not like they did anything bad there…but it brought a smile to Roxas's face. Vexen watched the whole process intently. He could easily tell which were the good memories and which weren't.

Sometime after Roxas had merged with Sora, when Roxas had a heart, he stood in a dark field of grass, crying as the rain poured around him.

"What the—" Vexen began, but it wasn't because of the tears streaming down Roxas's face. Some sort of terrible machine had emerged from the chair Roxas was sitting in, grabbing him on all sides and beginning a horrible procedure. Vexen knew what was happening. After all, he had designed the machine. The question was: why? More importantly, why then, right when Roxas was starting to get his memories back? He sighed, slightly disappointed, and left the room. There was nothing he could do about it now.

Demyx was about to leave the top of the castle and rejoin someone higher in status than he was when something odd caught his eye. A pink blob representing someone's heart floated out of the castle up to Kingdom Hearts. He frowned to see it. After all, everyone who lived at the castle—besides Lionel who had no _real_ heart—was a Nobody. Nobodies were supposed to be heartless. Where could it possibly have come from? He intended to find out.

The first person he saw when he returned to the castle was Axel, who greeted, "Whoa Demyx. Where have you been?"

Not wanting to explain the whole thing, Demyx replied, "With Roxas." Axel nodded, suddenly in a bad mood. Noticing this, Demyx continued, "Are you still mad at him? You, know he didn't know any better. You were the one who said he couldn't remember us."

"No, he didn't remember you guys. He remembered me just fine. He knew we were best friends, and he purposefully used that friendship to help his plan. That's what I'm mad about."

Demyx was surprised by that. Scratching his head, he noted, "Whoa, I didn't know that."

Turning to walk away, Axel said, "Well yeah, we never really were friends."

After a second, Demyx followed, adding, "So you know how I was with Roxas? Well, I got in trouble for it, and now I have to stay within sight of one of my superiors at all times."

"And?"

"And I was hoping I could hang with you."

"Have fun trying to sleep with someone like Lexaeus in your room," Axel mocked, continuing to walk away.

"Axel," Demyx begged, "you're the only one of my superiors I actually like."

Axel stopped for a second, just to raise an eyebrow at Demyx.

"Not like that," Demyx insisted. "You know what I mean. I can't survive through even a week of being continuously followed by one of _them._"

Still not exactly agreeing, Axel waited for Demyx to catch up before he continued walking to wherever he was planning on going. He never made it there, however. Along the way, he was once again interrupted when Demyx saw Roxas walking towards them. Roxas seemed a little more serious than normal. Even so, Demyx waved.

"Hell-o Roxas," Demyx began, sounding goofy, "have your memories returned yet?"

"Good day fellow denizens of nonexistence," Roxas returned, more harshly than normal. "My memories are none of your concern."

"He's just as grumpy as you are," Demyx muttered to Axel, as Roxas continued walking past.

Even Axel was surprised—and a little concerned—by Roxas's comment. Watching Roxas quickly heading away, Axel added, "That's not good. What happened to him?"

"Nothing…as far as I know. He was acting just fine a couple hours ago. But then…no never mind. It couldn't be that."

"What?" Axel demanded, interested all of a sudden.

"Honestly, it was a stupid idea. It has to do with hearts, and you always make fun of me when I say we have them."

Axel laughed. "You think Roxas just 'lost his heart'?"

"Well, the thing is," Demyx explained, "I saw one today—a heart—floating right out of the castle."

At first, Axel seemed intrigued, but he quickly got a hold of himself, countering, "That could have been anyone."

"Coming right out of the castle," Demyx insisted. Roxas appeared again, at the end of the hall, deeply engrossed in what looked like an extremely important conversation with Luxord. Pointing to the two of them, Demyx continued, "Did you see the look on his face? He's obviously changed, right? He looks exactly like the original six members, you know. Determined to do nothing but fill Kingdom Hearts. Why don't you and I have that same look?"

Axel didn't respond—he was deeply considering things, though—so Demyx continued, "The original six, obviously don't have hearts. They act that way…and now Roxas is acting that way too. The connection is: all of their Somebodies are dead. What if we really do have hearts until our Somebodies die?"

"Roxas did always make me feel like I had a heart," Axel mumbled to himself.

"Now, the only question is: how are we going to solve the problem and fix Roxas?"

"The only way to release his heart is to release all of Kingdom Hearts," Axel explained, "if that is indeed the problem."

"Then, that's what we'll have to do," Demyx decided.

"What? No," Axel argued. "I would never do that! Not even for my best friend turned traitor, turned best friend, turned traitor, turned brain dead, turned superior—or whatever he is. He is not more important than our whole purpose in life."

"I know you really want to."

"No…even if I did want to, how would you intend to do so?"

Demyx thought for a really long time before a wide smile spread from ear to ear. "The game."

"What?" Axel questioned in confusion.

"You know, the game," Demyx described, gesturing widely. "Kingdom Hearts. The way we were all created. 'Cuz remember at the end? Sora defeats us and releases all the hearts. If we can defeat the game, we can defeat it in real life, right?"

Axel seemed frustrated to even be part of the conversation as he added, "Do you realize what you're saying? Just think how much trouble we will be in just for having the game in our possession, much less actually playing it! How would you plan on getting that past the door? How would you even acquire that game?"

Thoughtfully, Demyx paused for a long time. After a moment, Axel finished, "Yeah, that's what I though," and walked off again.

Demyx chased after him suggesting, "Well, we could go down to earth, the real world—where they sell the game."

"It's that simple?" Axel asked mockingly. After Demyx gave him a disappointed look, Axel stated, "If you wanna try that, go right ahead. What you do is none of my business."

"I cant' go there without you Number VIII. I can't go anywhere without you."

Axel looked away, trying to avoid giving in. It made a little sense, but he still wasn't ready to take the chance until Roxas rudely brushed by once more, still completely consumed by this suddenly important conversation. Roxas had even started wearing his hood up. Axel watched him walk away, clearly pondering all the options.

Eventually he decided, "All right, let's do this, but if anything happens…" He trailed off at the end.

"I know, I know. My fault. We'll do it all in my room. No worries, right?"

"Right," Axel mocked, "we'll just hide everything under your dirty clothes…Now here's a question for you," he continued as they walked toward the exit, "how do you get through the gate to earth?"

"I don't know," Demyx replied, but they kept going anyways. Nothing was said until they reached, and passed, the big green hole outside the castle. Out of the blue, Demyx thought of something. "You know who would know? Pinocchio. I heard he went there and came back alive."

"Uh…well, we've got not better option, I guess."

They headed toward Pinocchio's house, completely not noticing the confused Nobody that they walked right past. He looked down at his hands, then his boots, his cargo pants, his striped polo shirt, the large strands of lavender and teal tipped brown hair falling across the bridge of his nose…Not many people got the privilege of remembering the day they experienced the phenomenon of coming into existence. It would have been more phenomenal if he had a heart to add to his existence, but the young anime man was still in awe about discovering everything he'd been given—two big brown eyes, a nose, ten fingers, and that tattoo on his arm of a swan kissing a snake in the shape of a 'P.'

The only thing he seemed to not have was a name…a name and some sort of memory of where he was or how he got there. Curiously, he looked around for anyone with answers. He saw the giant dark castle and figured someone might be home. When he walked toward it to knock, however, a burst of light grew out of the big green hole. As he shaded his eyes, a strange feeling came through him, and a golden scepter appeared in his hand.

Once again confused and in awe, he just stared at the scepter and the three circles at the top that resembled the head of a mouse, as he asked himself, "What does this mean?" Just goofing off, he swung it around like a sword, finally stopping with it pointing toward the castle. Somehow, the door unlocked, and a bridge appeared across the green hole. At first, he was frightened, but, after a shrug, he walked across.

I woke up in the dark, the faint light of stars glowing on the ceiling. Was I in my own room? The covers around me on the bed felt very familiar. At first, I thought someone had recreated my room in _**Fiction-Land**_. With a sigh, I realized it was actually more likely that everything had just been a dream. I was exhausted anyways, so I just let myself drift off to sleep again.

When I woke up the next morning, I went about my morning like nothing had happened. Then, Dusty dashed into my room. She had planned to go straight to my computer and back to _**Fiction-Land**_, but when she saw me, she stopped short.

"Tiara!" She exclaimed in shock. "So you got brought back too?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, I was right in the middle of kissing Warren Peace," she continued excitedly, but then she lost her enthusiasm, "when I suddenly ended up in bed. What happened to you?"

"Warren Peace?" I questioned obliviously. "How did you meet him?"

"Oh yeah," Dusty remembered, "you didn't know. After CrawFish caught you, Nori came to tell me, and I followed him back. We know where Tia Dalma is, and we set out on a rescue mission."

I laughed, "Yeah, I was there when they told you guys were Tia and I were."

"Tia and you? You were there together?"

"Uh-huh…until I ran away with the guard boy to rescue his dragon, and we were lost in the forest in the rain when I got sucked back here."

"Oh, I hope he's okay. Nori was hanging off the edge of a waterfall when I left."

"He was hanging off the edge of a cliff, and you were making out with Fireboy?" I demanded furiously.

"It wasn't as bad as it sounds."

"Well there's one way to find out," I decided, quickly making my way to my computer. Opening up Nori's file, I typed, _Hey Nori, what's up? Are you okay?_ but no response came.

"Hey Nori, what's up? Are you okay?" Nehemiah announced through the high school gym locker room. After a second of surprise, Nori walked up and down the rows, looking around—since that had been the last saved direction I had given him. He wanted so bad to answer my question, knowing it was me, but didn't know that he could.

Nehemiah continued, "Nori? I know you're there, or Writers' Block wouldn't be letting me type anything. Please, just say something."

Another silence passed as Nori wandered, 'contently.' Actually, he was far from content, but the story wouldn't let him show it.

The tension began to build on our side as well, until Dusty came up with an idea. "Why don't you try a different character Tiara?" She asked.

"Like who? Nori was my only character really involved in this," I replied.

"Chiyo."

"Chiyo? But she's dead; Nori said so."

"Uh...yeah that would be a little hard 'cuz she was there when I was there."

"No? Really? You guys found Chiyo! How exciting that must have been," I exclaimed, quickly typing in, _Then Chiyo entered the room saying, "Nori, Tiara's trying to get your attention."_

Still, no response. A second later, however, the words, _"What are we doing here?" Chiyo asked,_ appeared on the screen.

"Tiara, why'd you write that?" Dusty asked.

"I didn't," I answered honestly.

"Nori shrugged," Nehemiah continued, "because he apparently didn't understand, so Tiara decided to ask Chiyo instead, 'Is everything okay?'"

"Everything is fine from my end," Chiyo replied—Nehemiah had to say all the non-dialogue parts. "MIah and I found a boy who knows how to find Tia Dalma's shack. We were almost there. About Nori, though, I don't know."

I read the message Chiyo had left me on the screen and inquired of her, _Well if you can talk to me, why isn't he?_

"Nori," she whispered, "you can talk you know…just try to say something. I learned it from Roxas once…Tiara needs to know how your end has been going, and I'd like to know too."

"Me too," Nehemiah chipped in, trying out the new discovery for himself.

"Um…" Nori began slowly. "We, uh, made it to the Castle That Never Was, to get Roxas, but something went a little wrong…We're working it out, though…kinda."

Tiara then mentioned, "Dusty and I are at home—safe. We can't get back…for now. Dusty would like to know who Warren is doing with his 'transformation.'"

"Well, actually," Nori responded, "ever since he kissed her."

"They kissed!" Chiyo exclaimed. "Why do I miss all the good stuff?"

Suddenly, Mom called from downstairs, "Girls! Is that you I hear up there?"

_Gotta go,_ I typed in really fast, _but it's nice to hear everything's going relatively fine._ Then, I saved and exited, joining Dusty to go explain everything to our parents.

Chiyo and Nehemiah popped back to where Hallom had once again been left alone in the pouring rain. It was just in time, too, for them to throw a few Three Musketeers around and rescue him from the Hubabaloos. They lifted him between them once again, and this time his feet actually moved—as slightly as it was. After walking for what seemed a few moments, they came across an endless sea of water.

"Uh…what now?" Nehemiah wondered pessimistically.

"Walk through it," Hallom answered softly.

"Are you meaning to say we can wade across that entire ocean, riptides and all?" Chiyo questioned.

"Just…trust me," Hallom reassured. "If you don't, then make me go first."

The two looked at each other and stepped closer to the sea. They still didn't walk through, but they had gotten close enough for Hallom to reach his hand out through the gelatinous wall that looked like water. When Chiyo and Nehemiah realized what it was, they laughed embarrassedly. All three walked through together to a bustling, tropical rainforest on the other side.

Chiyo looked behind them to the wall of water, mentioning, "Well, that's why there's no island on the map."

"Keep moving," Hallom said, "straight ahead."

They complied, following Hallom's instructions through the strange forest until they saw the shack across a river. Then, Chiyo realized, "You can't swim yet, can you?"

Hallom shook his head. "Make sure you go straight. There's a hole on the right side of the shack…under the water. You have to come back the same way, or…or you won't find me here."

"What do you mean?" Nehemiah inquired.

Hallom just shrugged. One explanation was enough for the day. Neither Nehemiah nor Chiyo was completely comfortable with the arrangement. After an awkward exchange of glances, a decision was reached.

"I'll stay here," Chiyo stated, "and wait with him. It shouldn't take two of us to get her now."

Hallom sighed and slid to the ground to rest as Nehemiah swam away.

Warren and Nori were thoroughly bored once they realized it was no longer possible for them to escape their cage. In fact, there probably would be no point in even mentioning them if Roxas hadn't walked by. He seemed to have a purpose when Nori first noticed him and called his name. Roxas stopped to stare at them for a while. When Warren repeated his name, Roxas randomly bent over to take his shoe off.

He returned with the picture, demanding, "Are these two you?"

Nori smiled. "Roxas, you remember!"

"I'll be back in a second," he said, walking off.

The two prisoners were excited—one that they had found their friend, and two that it seemed he would come back to let them out. Boy were they surprised when Roxas came back a moment later. He slapped a pink, bunny-ear headband on Nori's head, and dumped a whole can of beer over Warren.

Dropping the can to the floor, he tossed the picture at them finishing, "There, we're even." Nori and Warren watched in humiliated shock as he turned to walk away. Things were more serious than they thought.

"I had never imagined a PlayStation could be so…expensive," Axel complained as the two of them reentered the castle. They had managed to smuggle a television, PlayStation, controllers, cheat book, and the game itself into the castle and halfway to Demyx's room.

Demyx laughed. "I couldn't imagine you could be mobbed by so many crazy girls who just wanted to hear you say, 'Got it memorized?'" Demyx mocked Axel's voice and characteristics. "Why couldn't any of them have asked to hear me say, 'Dance water dance,' or, "we do too have hearts,' or, 'silence traitor,' or any of the other memorable things I say? Just one. That's all I ask!"

That brought one of Axel's famous smirks. "Chicks dig fire. That's all." Then, he jokingly added, "Got it memorized?" just to spite Demyx. "Plus, I'm your superior, and I'm not voiced by a baby cat from a children's movie."

"Right, it's always about your sexy voice…Well, it sucks in French."

"Does that make you feel better?" Axel wondered, chuckling.

"Yeah, sorta. Now, let's get this stuff to my room before we get caught."

As they walked on, they passed by Nori and Warren. Demyx stopped, which made Axel stop. Axel raised an eyebrow at Nori's ears and Warren's soaked face. That brought Demyx to burst into laughter. In turn, Axel laughed too.

"What are you doing here? And like that?" Demyx stumbled out through his laughing.

"Well, we came here to get Roxas out, like you said he wanted. But obviously he changed his mind," Nori explained.

"Why did Roxas do _that_ to you?" Axel questioned. Nori picked up the picture and showed it to Axel. Upon seeing it he continued, "But you all look happy. It makes no sense."

"It must have something to do with the secret 'bajumba' mission," Demyx whispered to Axel. Then, he turned back to Nori and Warren to assure, "Never fear. We will fix Number XIII." He held up the Kingdom Hearts cd case.

"How is that going to help you fix this problem Twirp?" Warren demanded skeptically.

"Be silent ignorant ones and just believe. You know nothing of these issues." All three laughed quietly at what Demyx had just said, so he continued, "Come on Number VIII; let's ditch these losers."

Warren looked like he was trying his hardest to keep a straight face, so Nori asked, "What d'ya think?"

He just let out a slight chuckle.

Nori shrugged. "At least they're not just sitting here."

Warren glared at him.

"What?"

Nehemiah easily made it into the shack, at which point, Tia Dalma promptly asked, "Who ahr you?"

"Nori's narrator Nehemiah who's come to rescue you Your Highness," Nehemiah responded respectfully.

Tia wisely decided to ask a question only a friend of Nori's would know, inquiring, "Who wuz it dat originally eentroduced Nori to me, eh?"

After pondering for quite a while, Nehemiah eventually replied, "It…must have been Mr. Miyagi. That's where he learns everything important…and that's where he'd supposedly gone when he first said he saw you."

"Dat works," Tia Dalma agreed, adding, "how do you intend to get outta here?"

"I have help outside. Come on, let's go."

He led her back to the hole and straight back to where he'd come from. He was worried when he first came out of the shack because he couldn't see Hallom or Chiyo. As he went straight back to them, however, they miraculously appeared. Tia smiled to see Hallom, until she saw how much pain he was in. She clearly thought Chiyo and Nehemiah had done that to him.

To counter that theory, Hallom smiled. "You always knew we'd get out."

Then, she understood. Chiyo helped Hallom to his feet, and he once again began to direct them—this time how to get off the Island.


	29. Chapter 28 Kingdom Hearts

"Next, plug the white one into audio output," Axel read from the manual.

"Which one's audio output?" Demyx wondered, his head popping out from behind the television. "Is it this one?" He tried plugging the white cord in where he thought it went. The room filled with a loud burst of static.

After both boys could stop covering their ears, Axel ordered, "Let me do that. You just read the instructions."

They switched places, Axel going to the television, and Demyx sitting on his bed. Axel easily found the right plug for the white cord. The next step was easy. _Plug the red cord into the other audio plug on the PlayStation._

Then, Demyx tried to read the next step, "Put the square thing in the AV MULTI OUT connector." AV MULTI OUT sounded more like "aavm you'll tea oot."

"What the…is that?"

"Aavm you'll tea oot," Demyx repeated.

"Let me see that," Axel commanded, grabbing the book from Demyx and reading the instruction. "Oh, that," he realized. He plugged it in, and everything was finished. They put the game in, and Axel sat down on the floor with the controller to play it.

"Hey, why do you get to play first?" Demyx demanded. "It was my idea."

"Because, I'm older than you," Axel teased.

After three minutes of watching Sora dreaming that he was falling, Axel pointed out, "This is almost the same as the dream Roxas told me about."

"What dream?" Demyx inquired.

"A couple nights ago, he came into my room and told me he had a dream like that…that's all."

"Hmm…odd," Demyx noted, seemingly pondering the connection.

Then, the playing of the game could actually begin. They were suddenly occupied with time consuming tasks such as collecting fish, coconuts, and logs, and chasing these dorky looking creatures named Donald and Goofy. That part was beginning to annoy Axel, since they were constantly two feet away but could never find each other. Just when he was about to cuss out Sora for being so stupid, they heard a knock at the door.

Urgently, he paused the game as Demyx changed the channel. Then, Demyx threw an extra cloak over the PlayStation, and Axel opened the door with the sound of Spanish soap operas playing in the background. Upon seeing Axel open Demyx's door, Xigbar was about to ask what he was doing there, until he noticed the ruffled hair, wrinkled clothes, and exhausted look. Axel blew a piece of hair out of his face in expectation of what Number II might say.

"I won't ask," Xigbar began. "Where's Demyx?"

"Demyx," Axel called back into the room as he disappeared behind the door, "it's for you."

A moment later, Demyx entered the doorway soaking wet. "Dude, why are you all wet?" Xigbar questioned, gesturing widely.

Looking down at himself, Demyx replied unsurely, "Uh…I'm not."

"Oh," Xigbar said skeptically, "okay then. The Superior asked me to tell ya you've got rounds tonight with Zexion. That's all. I'll let you two get back to _whatever_ you were doing." Then, he left allowing a very perplexed look to come across his face. What were they doing? Something was really wrong.

Demyx went to sit down again as Axel wondered, "Why are you wet?"

"Well, when you went to open the door, you knocked over my fountain, and I had to throw myself in front of it so it wouldn't spill over the gaming system," Demyx explained.

"You have a fountain in your room?"

"Yeah," Demyx scoffed, pointing to where it once again stood. "I guess we never really were friends." As he started the game up again, he added, "Oh yeah, you'll have to play by yourself for a while tonight. I've got rounds to make."

It was close to midnight, and Axel was trying to defeat a monster known simply as the "Trick Master." He was beginning to grow tired—and watching Donald sleeping unconsciously as Sora fought wasn't helping any. Nor were the crazy circles he had to run in to survive. Finally, though, the thing died, at which point it was revealed that the reason they had been fighting—Alice—had disappeared yet again. Frustrated, Axel leaned his head against the bed, letting the controller fall to the floor.

Just then, Demyx came in announcing, "I'm back."

"Good," Axel sighed, "it's your turn."

Demyx easily complied, continuing their game through _Deep Jungle_ and _Agraba,_ back to _Olympus Stadium,_ and then handed the controller to Axel because he was too brain dead to keep playing.

As Axel took up playing once again, he complained, "Hand it over you game hog."

Slurred from his fatigue, Demyx explained, "I jus' knew I wasn't gunna be able ta beat the higher levels than that, so I did the ones I could."

Axel rolled his eyes and entered the next world: _Atlantica._ Even after 15 hours of nonstop gaming, neither one could help but laugh at the three heroes' disguise for the world. Sora was a mermaid, Goofy was a turtle, and Donald was an octopus. It was quickly apparent that the game had gotten much harder. They suddenly had to fight all the hard stuff at the same time as they had to swim.

After another hour or so, Axel was finally done with the world's "boss" Ursula—that cheat book had helped them a lot. All of a sudden, a clock started beeping in the room. It surprised Demyx—who had been playing his sitar—causing him to strike a sour chord and shoot a geyser out of the floor beneath him.

Axel looked around the room for a while before asking, "What's that for?"

"It means we're late for breakfast," Demyx answered, once again soaking wet.

"Late?" Axel complained, forming a portal to the cafeteria, "Why can't you set it two minutes earlier and show up on time?"

Both boys entered the cafeteria through the same portal. Axel was once again flustered looking, and Demyx once again soaking wet. Everyone stopped eating for a second to look at them. Embarrassed by all the stares, both sheepishly went straight to their chairs.

Xigbar leaned over to Vexen who was sitting next to him and whispered, "See, I told ya something was up with those two."

Roxas had been upgraded to Saix's old seat—himself being replaced by one of the fan-girl part members—so Demyx noted, "Hey Roxas, the three of us finally get to sit together, just like we always wanted, right?"

Harshly, Roxas simply replied, "You're late."

Luxord turned to Axel and clicked his tongue as he wondered, "Are you two pretending to have hearts again? So inexperienced."

"Oh get over yourselves," Axel stated, standing up from his seat so everyone could hear. He pointed to Demyx as he continued, "He told me he had to follow one of us around everywhere, so I agreed to it. Do you have to turn everything into an over exaggerated drama?"

"Number VIII," Xemnas began, "return to your seat." As Axel complied, he continued, "Number VIII speaks the truth. By now, most of you know what Demyx did against us, and now you also know the punishment. He had a point, and that is why you see Roxas before us here today still, but what he did was also wrong, and he thus must be watched carefully. That is a responsibility to be shared among the entire organization."

That ended the conversation. In fact, it ended all conversation for the rest of that breakfast. Afterwards, Axel quickly got up and walked away—his steps still keeping their usual relaxed pace. Demyx looked around for a couple seconds and then followed Axel back to the video game. At first, Axel went back to the controls, and Demyx to the cheat book, but upon reading the information on _Halloween Town,_ Demyx decided it would be easy enough for him.

He hopped down to the floor where the controller could actually reach, and mentioned, "This level should be easy enough for me. You can do the three after this."

"Oh, fine," Axel agreed, in a slightly bad mood because of breakfast.

Demyx was right, though, _Halloween Town_ was really easy. The next level—_Neverland—_wasn't too hard either. Plus, it made Axel happy again because he got to learn how to fly, and he flew around in crazy circles until he felt better. Once Sora had beaten his own shadow—and a few other things—they moved on to _Hollow Bastion._

_Sora and Riku met again there, Riku starting the conversation with, "So, you finally made it. About time. I've been waiting for you. We've always been rivals, haven't we? You've always pushed me, as I've always pushed you."_

_Confused, Sora could only interject, "Riku…"_

"_But it all ends here. There can't be two Keyblade masters."_

"_What are you talking about?" Sora wondered, still lost._

"_Let the Keyblade choose…its true master." He reached out a hand, and Sora's Keyblade instantly dissolved, to reappear a second later in Riku's hand. After examining the key, Riku continued, "Maleficent was right. You don't have what it takes to save Kairi. It's up to me. Only the Keyblade master can open the secret door and change the world."_

"_But that's impossible. How did this happen? I'm the one who fought my way here with the Keyblade!" Sora complained._

"_You were just the delivery boy. Sorry, your part's over now. Here, go play hero with this," Riku finished, throwing him a stick and walking away._

"What!" Axel exclaimed.

_Then, even Donald and Goofy left, following Riku since their orders had been to follow the Keyblade._

"No way!" He shouted, throwing the controller to the floor. "After nine levels of fighting my way all the way here, you're just gonna take it away from me like that! Without even a fight! I could beat you now; I know it. You dirty bastard, give me my key back!"

Demyx looked at him curiously for a second before commenting, "Well, you're really starting to get into this game."

"Am not," Axel countered, picking up the controller and grumpily continuing to play.

Just before dinner, the game ended around thirty hours after it had started. "Well, dang," Demyx stated, slightly let down.

"What?" Axel wondered.

"I got excited when Maleficent told Riku he could find just Kairi's heart out of all the others, but turns out her heart was in Sora and not in Kingdom Hearts, so we can't use that plan, and Sora didn't even release all of Kingdom Hearts. That was no help at all."

Axel smiled mischievously, pulling something out of his cloak. "That is why I bought Kingdom Hearts II too. It's the one we really needed. You just have to play the first one first."

Excitedly, Demyx lunged toward the game, exclaiming, "Let's play it!"

"Not yet," Axel corrected. "First, we eat dinner."

"But my clock hasn't—"

"And we're not going to be late," Axel interrupted.

This time, they managed to walk into the cafeteria completely normal looking and take their assigned seats. Xaldin was still setting the table, and he handed thirteen forks to Demyx noting, "You know this wasn't supposed to be like house arrest, don't you? You can leave your room."

Demyx just smiled sheepishly and started passing out forks as Larxene commented, "He's probably just afraid to hear what we think of him for it."

"And what do we think of him for it Larxene?" Xaldin wondered, knowing she was the one with the strongest "emotional" opinions about people.

"Personally," she began, "I respect him now more than I ever have." Then, she turned to Demyx himself and continued, "I never thought you had what it took to stand up for Roxas, or survive the Island, but you did both. And you fought me…but that doesn't mean that I'm not mad at you."

Surprised, Demyx raised his eyebrows at her comment, but remained silent. If he said anything, he'd probably give something away. Pretty soon, everyone had arrived for dinner. It was served, and went on completely normally—with Roxas being the exception, of course. He spent the entire time involved in the conversation of Marluxia and Luxord, on the other side of Demyx and Axel from him. Axel and Demyx just ate as fast as they could without seeming suspicious so they could return to the room.

Hallom's eyes opened slowly. Where was he? Looking around the room, he knew it was a place he'd never been before. When had he fallen asleep? _Passed out, actually,_ he remembered suddenly. Taking a deep breath, he tried to sit up in the bed he was laying on. It was slightly painful still, but he realized he was feeling much better. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, slipping on his shoes, and once again glancing around the room, searching for where all his effects were.

A girl with brown hair sloppily pulled into a braid walked through the door, surprising Hallom as she greeted cheerfully, "Good morning boy. Are you feeling better?"

Instantly backed against the wall, Hallom questioned, "W-who are you?"

She smiled as she replied, "I didn't mean to frighten you. I'm Aerith. Your friends brought you here because you needed my help."

After thinking for a moment, Hallom asked, "Y-you know…Nehemiah?"

"Yes," she agreed. "In fact, he and his friends have come here for my help many times. It seems they're always getting themselves hurt. I've never seen you before, though. How do you know Sora?"

"Sora?" Hallom repeated, confused.

The two boys had immediately started on Kingdom Hearts II when they got back to Demyx's room. After watching another very strange opening scene involving Sora's odd dreams, both boys were shocked to know the game started with Roxas being the main character.

They hadn't played for very long when a voice behind them demanded, "What are you doing?"

Axel and Demyx looked to the door and saw Roxas standing there inside the room. He hadn't knocked; he just entered. His question hung dauntingly in the air for a moment before he came over to them, examining the television.

"V-video games," he stuttered, his voice momentarily returning to its normal tone. "Xigbar made it seem like it was something bad." He frowned, his mind flashing back to Sora's house and playing his various games. It was fun. These two Nobodies were his friends, right? He…he…he asked, "What game is it?"

Axel glanced to Demyx for a second before answering, "It's a game about you Roxas. It'll help you get your memory back. This is…how you became one of us. For you, Roxas, we'll start it over, and you can watch…your whole life."

He frowned again, a complex battle fighting in his mind. Something was telling him he shouldn't, but he was telling himself that he should. Unsurely, he cleared away a spot on the floor and sat down commenting, "I want to know."

They started the game over, even letting Roxas play most of the parts. He stayed for quite a while, until they got to a part where he had to fight Axel. Looking curiously to the real Axel, he inquired, "W-why am I fighting you?"

Axel looked at Roxas, then the game, and then thought back on his memories of the moment before beginning to reply, "Because you—"

"Oh, it's late," Roxas realized, suddenly standing up. "I…I…clean your room," he finished, instantly switching back to the evil, grumpy Roxas and leaving the room. Demyx and Axel looked at each other for a second before mutually deciding to play all the more diligently. They had a friend to save.

Levels passed, and hours flew by. Breakfast came and went, but neither Axel nor Demyx showed up for it. Fairly concerned, Katex showed up at their door afterwards. She knocked a few times, but no one answered. Now really worried, she opened the door and surfed in. Demyx was sprawled out across the bed, snoring and drooling over the edge. Axel was leaning against the bed, his head slumped onto his chest, the controller still between his hands. Her eyes followed the cord on the controller to the television where a picture of Sora floated lifelessly with the word "continue" underneath it.

"Sora," she muttered, recognizing the person, as well as the case entitled "Kingdom Hearts II" atop the PlayStation. "What have they been up to?" She asked herself.

Confused as to what to do, she sat quietly on the floor next to Axel and thought through it for a very long time. There could only be one reason he was playing the game: to release Kingdom Hearts. That was a horrible thing to do, though. She knew she should turn him in…but, on the other hand, he was her boyfriend. She wanted to stand behind him in every decision he made. Plus, she was sure he had a good reason for it.

Eventually, she decided that the only way for her to make the right decision would be to find out why he did it. After calling his name several times to wake him up with no response, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and stood up. She knew she had to tell Xemnas, and it was going to be hard. She would do it, though, no matter how hard it was. Turning to leave the room, she stopped one last time at the door to look at would soon be her dead boyfriend.

Something stopped her from leaving the room, however, and it wasn't Katex changing her mind in the last moment because Axel was just so drop dead gorgeous. In fact, it wasn't her changing her mind for any reason. That would be too fairytale-ish. Instead, Axel had heard the sound of the door opening and slowly opened his eyes. Though, he had woken up because of the door, he didn't realize that that was the reason, so he grabbed the controller, ready to begin the game anew. Then, for some reason, he glanced toward the door and noticed Katex staring at him in shock.

"Spitfire," he began, calling her by his nickname for her, "what are you doing here?"

"I…I came to see if everything was all right with you two," she replied, slightly relieved, slightly still angry. "We missed you at breakfast."

"Breakfast? Is it passed that time already?" Axel asked obliviously.

"Yeah, it's 10:45."

"Oh."

She waited a couple moments just to see if he would say anything before she started again, "What the hell are you doing Axel? With that game?"

"What? That game?" Axel questioned, looking at the screen again. "Roxas was playing it with us last night. It is all about him…wonderful for regaining his memory, really."

Katex glared at him like she didn't believe him because she didn't. "Axel, don't try to fool me. I know that game. I beat it once before."

"Then why are you getting all heated with me over it?"

"Because! That was before I became a Nobody and actually realized how important Kingdom Hearts really is to people like us! How could you possibly think of ruining that hope for all of us? For yourself? For me?"

Realizing just how much he'd hurt her, Axel decided it would be best if he actually explained why they had been playing the game, starting from the moment Demyx reentered the castle down to then. By the end of the story, she wasn't exactly sure what to think.

"I'm…I'm gonna have to think about this," she decided, leaving Axel's room for her own.


	30. Chapter 29 Lionel is alive!

Hallom was very relieved when Nehemiah walked in and responded to his question, "Sora is another friend of ours. He's the reason Chiyo and I came to get you instead of Nori—because Nori is rescuing Sora." After a short pause, he continued, "How are you feeling? Because if possible, we need to leave now."

With a small yawn and a stretch, Hallom climbed out of bed as Nehemiah explained, "We have to get Tia to a safe place before one of the king's men finds us…whoa, you have a tail!"

"You didn't expect that when you saw his ears?" Aerith asked curiously. Turning to Hallom, she handed him a few things as she added, "Here's your jacket and your sword. I couldn't find your hat, though."

"How'd you know…" Hallom began, trailing off at the end in confusion. How could she have known about his hat if she never saw it?

She smiled again and explained, "You were asking for it in your sleep last night…It was nice to meet you. I hope we'll see each other again."

"Just hopefully not the same way," Hallom mentioned as he turned to follow Nehemiah who was leaving the room.

"Of course," Aerith agreed, waving after them. "Goodbye. Good luck!"

They were walking through an underground tunnel, hoping that Lionel wouldn't be able to find them there. It was easy to tell that they had entered Japan, since the signs on the walls of the tunnel had suddenly changed to the language. Chiyo was reading the signs and pointing them in the right direction now. They were actually most of the way to Vash's secret hide out when the two Mexican men showed up.

All four travelers instantly recognized them, and Hallom quickly drew his katana in defense. He stopped short, however, when he noticed the small female with bat wings held between the two Mexicans.

"T-Tally," Hallom stuttered in shock. Tally was a girl from the story he was in. She was kind of like his girlfriend.

"Hallom!" The little bat exclaimed in return.

One of the Mexicans laughed. "We knew you woul'n't fight us if we had her here."

"Come wit' us," the other ordered, "or we kill 'er."

Hallom was ready to give in when Nehemiah stopped him and asked, "Do you know her?"

"Yes," Hallom replied.

"Are you sure?"

"W-what is that supposed to mean?"

"Lionel has people working for him," Nehemiah whispered, "called morphs. They can change appearance to look like any person. Are you sure that's really Tally?"

After pondering for a while, Hallom decided to ask a question only the real Tally would know. "I…attacked you once and left a scar…though it wasn't your first. Where is it?"

Tally searched around for a while, eventually ending with a smile and, "You'd never hurt me Hallom."

A growl grew up in Hallom's throat, and, with just a few swipes of his katana, he took all three out. None of them were dead, just incapacitated enough that he and his friends could make it to the hideout safely.

"Let's go," Nehemiah insisted urgently, "before Lionel catches up with us for doing this." He took off running, followed by Chiyo. Hallom waited for Tia Dalma to hike up her skirt before he left, holding up the rear, and glancing back at the fake Tally one last time.

They did make it to Vash's hideout after not too long. He ushered the four of them into a cellar where Tiara was preparing for some major makeovers. She smiled mischievously as she turned to say hello with scissors in one hand and a bra in the other.

"No one will ever recognize you," she began.

Nehemiah ended up with a fro, an oversized t-shirt, and basketball shorts. It wasn't his style, but he played the part well. Chiyo got green highlights, long bangs that framed her face, pigtail braids, and a sweet summer dress. She gagged but didn't really have a choice. Tia Dalma didn't need anymore than a clean dress and a wash cloth to be a different person. Still, Tiara gave her a wig and some color contacts.

Hallom put his arms in front of him and refused to have anything done with one simple word: "No."

"Why not?" Tiara asked. "It will help a lot."

He just repeated, "No." Then, a couple seconds later he added, "I-I think I'll just leave…Thanks."

"No," Tia returned forcefully.

Vash agreed, "It's not any safer for you out there than it was for her. If you're associated with us, Lionel is looking for you."

Seeming uncomfortable about staying with so many people he didn't know, Hallom eventually gave in, just grabbing a grey beanie hat from the table of random stuff, pulled it over his head, and sat down in the corner. He had been okay with helping them out for a while, but he was by no means prepared to spend an extended time with these strangers. Not to mention they were all but locked underground. What about fresh air? It was going to take a while to wrap his mind around it, so until then, he'd keep sitting there.

There was no hint of light, so no one could see the figure moving through the shadows. Even though the night was silent, not even the most tuned ears could hear the skilled footsteps. Running through the underground tunnels, nothing could stop him…except a pigtailed blonde who suddenly appeared in front of him.

Holding her hands behind her back, she asked curiously, "Where are you going Wolfboy?"

He didn't answer, so she continued, "You're not running away, are you? Because that wouldn't be very good."

Hallom tried to step around her, but she stepped in front of him again.

"Please come back," Chiyo begged. "It's not safe for you out here. I promise, once it's safe, we'll take you back to your friends. For now, you just have to trust us."

"Why should I?" He asked.

"Because we rescued you—and Tia Dalma, who seems to be important to you," Chiyo explained.

"Is…is locking us in another…hole really rescuing us?"

Unable to come up with a good response, Chiyo just repeated, "Please."

A second later, another voice asked, "Chiyo! What are you doing out here?"

"Miah!" Chiyo recognized the voice immediately. "Help me make him stay."

Then, Nehemiah noticed Hallom in the shadows as well and inquired, "Why are you trying to leave?"

Hallom probably never would have answered that question. The explanation was far too long. Unfortunately, he was never even given the chance. Out of the darkness appeared two black blobs that would not have been noticeable if it wasn't for the slight tinge of blue that made them stand out. All three turned to run—though not in the direction of the hideout, so as to not give away Tia Dalma's location.

Hallom looked back after a minute, relieved to see that he had lost the two figures who had come from the dark blobs. However, he'd also lost Chiyo and Nehemiah. With only a second of thought, he turned to help them. Somehow—despite how far he'd come from the hideout—Tia Dalma grabbed his arm, stopping him from going.

"Der be no use killin' yerself now. They'll die whet'er ye go back er not," she described.

Not willing to accept that he did nothing to help, Hallom broke away from her only to be caught by the stronger Vash.

Vash pulled him to his knees, ordering, "Don't waste your time boy. They risked their lives to get you away from those people. Don't get yourself caught again."

It was very difficult for Hallom to force himself to stay there—which made it a good thing that Vash was stronger—but he managed to not leave. After waiting hopefully for them to run around the corner for some time, they eventually gave up and returned to the hideout.

Thankfully, not everything had gone as badly as Vash described. The two figures—Xaldin and Lexaeus—knew their orders well. Everyone associated with Nori or his plans were to be thrown in the cage with him and Warren. Of course, only Xaldin knew why they were doing that. Chiyo and Nehemiah were relieved to still be alive, but when they were first dumped in the cage on the balcony of a completely white building, they weren't very happy.

At first, they didn't even notice Warren or Nori until the latter exclaimed, "Chiyo!"

Both turned around in shock, Chiyo noting, "So this is what you meant by: 'something went a little wrong.' Nori, you're in prison!"

"You are too," Nori retorted embarrassedly. "I just didn't want Tiara to worry."

Interrupting the lovely discussion, Xaldin demanded, "Where are the rest?"

"What do you mean by: 'the rest'?" Nori inquired, knowing there were more people involved that Xaldin probably knew about.

"The three girls from Earth," he answered.

"Back on Earth," Nori replied, not feeling bad about answering that one.

"Kairi?"

"Not telling."

"Tia Dalma?"

Nori shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know."

"Even I can tell you're lying."

Honestly, Nori defended, "I have no idea if she is where I think she is."

"Where do you think she is?"

"There's a good possibility she's no longer where she was. She's probably not where you think she is. And she's certainly not someplace I thought she was."

"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

"I could keep going if you'd like. Surely something I tell you will help you find where she wasn't."

Xaldin just brushed the conversation aside and walked off. After all, he hadn't been asked to find Tia Dalma, just to not let onto the plan yet. He'd done enough questioning that no one would guess. As soon as he was out of sight, Warren looked curiously to Nori.

After a second, he wondered, "Where'd you come up with all that so quickly?"

"I didn't," Nori replied. "One time I had to find a girl who had been kidnapped using just that for my clues…so now that we're all back together, let's catch up on what's happened."

Demyx and Axel were getting close to the end of the game when Katex burst in again. "I'll do it," she announced. "If it's all for Roxas, I'm in."

"What is she talking about?" Demyx whispered.

"She caught us sleeping, so I had no choice but to ask her to join us," Axel explained.

"I almost turned you boys in, but it's for Roxas. I can't stand to see him like this for another minute. What do you need me to do?"

Nori, Chiyo, and Nehemiah were once again suddenly popped away to their story to talk with me.

"I've got some bad news," Nehemiah instantly announced, though everyone knew it was really me talking. "Dusty and I, we found Lionel's author, trying to see if we could get him to kill Lionel from our end, but there's a serious problem. The author said he's had major writers' block on the monster—get this—for over ten years. Somehow, Lionel's found ways around his own rules. There's no way the author can kill him."

"And we can't kill him without the author," Nori mumbled. "Well, I guess death is out of the question."

"Sorry boys…we tried…Dusty says hi—particularly to Warren. I'll be back every now and then to ask for updates, 'kay?"

Nori nodded, and then a second later, just when I was about to leave, he wondered, "Are you listening to Nickelback?"

"Yeah," I agreed. "Why?"

"I just figured out where our theme songs come from. Whatever music is playing on your computer plays up here. I like this song."

"Lol…bye guys."

The next night, Axel and Demyx stood outside Xigbar's room, identities completely disguised by their full, black cloaks, trying to find a way in to get a gun. Demyx was actually eventually able to pick the lock, which surprised Axel greatly. Then, he took a step into the room, however, and stepped on something that made a quiet snapping noise. Axel grabbed his arm and pulled him back into the hallway.

"Maybe we should send a Heartless in after it," Axel suggested as Xigbar subconsciously rolled over in his sleep. "We don't want to wake him."

Demyx didn't really agree, but he didn't disagree either, simply shrugging slightly. Taking that as enough of a, "Yes," to use his own idea, Axel formed a couple Heartless and sent them into Xigbar's room after a particular missile launcher.

As the Heartless went about their job, Axel mentioned quietly, "I can't believe he just leaves all those guns out in the open, in his room."

Shrugging again, Demyx noted, "Makes things easier for us."

Suddenly, a girl's voice called in a hush from down the hall, "Boys, what are you doing here? I thought we were going to meet on the tower outside."

"We were," Axel whispered in agreement. "Keep going, we'll meet you there in a second."

"That doesn't answer my question," Katex grumbled, crossing her arms across her chest. "What are _you two_ doing _here_?"

Demyx answered bluntly, "Well, if we're gonna blow a hole in something, we've gotta have a gun, right?"

"No," Katex replied. After a moment of empty stares from the boys, she continued, "I thought we decided…" Still no ideas came to them. "I have bombs. You don't have to break into someone else's room for them."

"Oh," Axel said, almost like he slightly remembered that conversation. "Well, I guess it's late now," he finished, realizing that the Heartless had returned with the missile launcher. Demyx picked it up, and they were about to turn the same direction as Katex—because she was facing the right direction to get to the tower—when she suddenly threw her arm behind her, forming a portal down the hallway.

"Keep walking casually," she mumbled through her teeth. "Don't stop; don't turn around until you've gotten into the portal. I'll be there in a second."

Axel only made it halfway to the portal—twenty to thirty feet—before he heard Katex's muffled scream. He couldn't help but stop and look back. Demyx didn't stop until he reached the portal and realized Axel wasn't with him. He glanced around him until he found Axel staring at Katex, who was trying to fight Luxord off while they destroyed Kingdom Hearts. Luxord was the one assigned to make rounds that night, and they hadn't had a problem with him until then. Apparently, Katex noticed him first and wanted to give them a head start.

Knowing that, it was a hard decision for Axel to make. Save his girl dying at the hands of his inferior, or save his friend who would still have memory issues even after they returned his heart? He just stood there, watching Katex fight Luxord as he tried to make a decision. The decision was made when Luxord knocked Katex over, and she lay there weakly.

Axel turned to Demyx and ordered, "You keep going. I've gotta help Katex."

Demyx seemed awkward about it, but went on anyways. Axel quickly rushed back to fight by the side of his girl. Luxord was about to give the death blow, when Axel made it there, blocking off the attack with his chackram.

Luxord looked curiously to the newcomer, eventually questioning, "You too?"

"Stay away from my girl," Axel commanded angrily, bursting flames at the seems and throwing everything he had at Luxord in a matter of seconds. It wasn't too long before Luxord was incapable of fighting any longer, and he started slowly dissolving into a black cloud. Axel backed away from him, stuttering, "Oh my…I-I killed you."

The next step he took accidentally kicked Katex. He instantly fell to his knees next to her motionless body. After calling her names a few times and gently shaking her shoulders, she gradually opened her eyes slightly when he called her by her nickname: "Spitfire." Once they were finally open, Axel couldn't think to do anything but cover his mouth with his hand.

"I thought I told you to keep going," she noted weakly.

"I couldn't leave you here," Axel replied. After a second, he added, "Are you…dying?"

She tried to smile. "I feel like…half of me is…trying to fade like a normal Nobody, but the other half…is trying to send…the rest of my heart…to Kingdom Hearts."

"You having half a heart always did complicate things." She laughed slightly, so he felt comfortably adding, "Well, if you're going to Kingdom Hearts, hurry up and die so you can come back when Demyx releases you."

She laughed again, then coughed a couple times and stated, "Not funny Axel."

"Don't die," Axel begged as she too began breaking up into puffs of black.

"It's…too late…Thank you," she ended.

"No! Spitfire!" Axel called through the hallway, no longer afraid of being heard. She was dying.

Xigbar was the only one to wake up and enter the hallway. After all that, he should have woken up. He had no clue what had just gone on; he just got out there in time to watch Katex finish fading away. Axel pounded his fist on the ground once and then stood to his feet, starting to pace around in circles.

"I need to kill something," he muttered. Then, he repeated it louder, "I need to kill something!"

Not even a second later, Demyx appeared, Xemnas dragging him down the hallway by the elbow. Axel glanced oddly at them, and Xemnas glared back, blaming Axel since he'd agreed to be in charge of Demyx. When they had passed by, Demyx turned around, allowing himself to be drug backwards so he could talk to Axel. Pointing to himself, Axel silently asked, "Do they know about me?"

Demyx shook his head in return. Slightly relieved, Axel sighed, but then he felt guilty and wanted to take responsibility…sort of, at least for killing Luxord. He took a step toward them, raising his hand like he might try to say something. Demyx's eyes grew very large as he shook his head again. Putting his free hand to his lips, he zipped them shut. Then, Xemnas stopped suspiciously in the middle of the hallway.

"What happened here?" He demanded, as Axel realized it was right where Luxord had died.

The question had been directed to Xigbar, who responded, "I didn't see anything."

"Number VIII," Xemnas addressed. Axel looked to him, even though he wasn't looking back and couldn't see Axel do it. "You know what happened. Come with us."

Axel had no choice but to comply.

The two boys were led to a part of the castle they'd never been to before. It was like a backstage to the training facilities. They walked around in the empty halls, staring at the empty training rooms for a while before Xemnas finally spoke. It finally happened when they reached one room that was not empty.

"I'd like you to meet the newest member to Organization XIII," he stated, gesturing to a young man in his late teens with three toned hair, learning to fight with a mouse-headed, golden scepter. "The Master of Deception. He controls sound, and can disguise himself as any living creature. He hasn't entirely learned to direct all his powers yet, of course, but he can scramble voices around." In the middle of that sentence, Xemnas's voice suddenly changed to sound like Demyx's.

Demyx's sounded like Xemnas when he commented, "Whoa, he really can. Is that me? Awesome."

"But what does this have to do with anything?" Axel questioned, his voice coming out slightly British sounding.

"Patience, Number VIII," Xemnas ordered, pausing for a moment as the scepter let out a piercing screech that brought Axel, Demyx, and the cloaked trainer to their knees. As soon as it was over, Xemnas calmly explained in his own voice, "The big show is almost here."

Both boys climbed back to their feet to watch the show. The new Nobody raised his scepter in the air above his head and, in a whirlwind of yellow, transformed into Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Once the trainer was convinced that he actually looked like Belle, a door at the other end of the room opened, and through it was pushed the Beast himself. Angrily, he roared at the trainer, until he saw Belle.

"Beast," she called out softly when he noticed her.

"Belle?" He wondered, walking cautiously toward her. She reached her arms in the air for a hug, and he grabbed her around the waist, spinning her in the air a couple times. "Belle, it really is you."

Belle let out a girly giggle for a second before the Beast let her down, and then they held hands. "It's so good to see you," Belle commented, halfway through the sentence switching back to her normal Nobody self with a smirk. The scepter was instantly in his hand, pointed at the Beast, emitting another terrible sound wave. The Beast collapsed to the floor in shock, and before he could recover, the trainer led him away in chains. Since the heat of the battle had worn off, the Nobody sat against the wall with a very confused look on his face like: _why did I just do that?_

Xemnas continued, "We found him quite easily. He was born right here at the castle, actually. Logical, since his Somebody also died here at the castle."

Axel glared at Demyx while he questioned, "You mean, lost his heart? Here?" Xemnas didn't respond, but Axel didn't need confirmation to ask another question. "Recently?" Angrily, Axel turned to Demyx and shouted, "I can't believe you talked me into all this! I believed you that this was the only way to save Roxas, and it wasn't even his heart you saw! It was just some random kid! I should never have believed you." He stopped finally when he realized what Demyx was looking at. He had just said all that right in front of Xemnas.

As Axel looked down in embarrassment, Xemnas stated, "I thought you might have been a part of it. We will discuss your punishment for it later. First, let me show you what Number XIII's friends did to him."


	31. Chapter 30 Five jars of dust

Two drowsy eyes peeked open, shut again, and then flew open in shock. Completely amazed, the boy sat up, bonking his head on a cement shelf only three feet above the one he slept on. He reached his hand up to his head as he looked out around the dark blue room. It was filled from top to bottom with rows upon rows upon rows of cement shelves, each with a different body on it. Some were brand new; some were old, decaying skeletons; some were even dismembered.

After recovering from his sudden nausea, the boy asked, "Am I really…alive?" No one else seemed to be. How could you possibly wake up in a room full of dead people, fifty feet from either the ground or the ceiling, and still be the only living thing around? He looked around some more, examining every inch for signs of life. Oddly, he noticed a handful of jars a couple dead guys over on the same shelf as him. He crawled over to see why they weren't an actual body, kneeing an old lady's stomach and breaking a little boy's neck on the way.

"Sorry," he said to the dead people as he reached the jars. Picking them up, he read out loud, "Sarahx, T-rex, Katex, Xariana." They seemed a little familiar but didn't mean anything until he picked up the last two. "Luxord? Saix? These are…Organization people."

An evil voice suddenly roared through the room, shouting, "Sora!" The boy looked around again, confused, until the girl appeared from a shadow. She was a giant girl, made out of what seemed similar to a cloud, and she was floating toward the newly awakened Sora, her dark hair constantly being blown by a nonexistent wind. She stopped about a foot away from Sora, her eye the same size of his head. "Put the jar back," she ordered slowly, her lips appearing enchanted by the way they moved. "Or I may just have to kill you."

Sora quickly put the jar he was holding back down on the shelf, and she instantly changed to the more normal size of twice Sora's height. "That's more like it," she noted, tapping Sora's chin flirtingly. "What are you interested in my friends for anyways?" She wondered, seductively turning her head to the side.

"Friends?" Sora asked curiously, "They're dead, right?"

"Yes," she agreed, pausing before laughing and explaining loudly, "but _this!_ This is Tartarus," she calmed down again to continue, "my realm of chaos and death. Everyone here is dead. That's the way I like it. That's the best kind of friend to have, right?" After playing with Sora's chin again, she floated off, seeming to be pacing across the air, "They don't ever talk back, or argue, or tell you not to do the things you want to do. They always support the decisions you make, never complain about my lack of decoration, and, best of all, they never ask for _anything_ in return."

"Uh," Sora decided, "I think I still prefer live ones."

"Come to think," she noted, getting back in his face. "Why are you alive?"

"I…uh." He shrugged.

"Well, you can't stay here," she announced, leaning back and crossing her arms.

"I'll leave. Just show me the door."

She gestured behind her to a large square light that had just become visible. Sora nodded like he was about to leave, but then he wondered, "Oh, can I take the jars?"

"You what?" She shouted, echoing through the room. "How dare you even think of taking something from my realm!"

"I…uh, never mind," Sora decided, scrunching up between two shelves.

"Why?" She questioned after a moment of sheer anger passed.

"Well, I don't know," Sora scratched at his head nervously. "I know some friends of the…dead guys who I thought might benefit a little more from the remains. After all, you have plenty of dead people around, and the jars…well, they don't even add anything aesthetically to the room."

"That's a big word coming from such a small man," she noted, grabbing Sora's cheek as she said it. Then, she cleared her throat and stated, "Of course you can have them…What can I have in return?"

Sora thought for a while before emptying the pockets on his belt and handing the contents to her. "The keys to a cottage, a page from the Winnie the Pooh book, a potion that can bring things back to life—though, I'm not sure why you'd want that—my red video phone…no you can't have that."

"I meant like people," she clarified with a slight laugh.

"People?" Sora repeated in shock.

"Sora!" A voice called up from down below. The boy looked over the edge to the floor and saw Wesley. "Come down here so we can get out of this place!"

Looking back to the lady, Sora said, "Sorry, guess not. Bye." Then, he jumped off the shelf to the ground—because we all know falling that far doesn't hurt Sora. "Wesley," he began.

"Sora, what were you doing still up there? Didn't you want to get out?"

Sora was about to answer, when the lady came down, brushing Wesley's cheek as she greeted, "Good day Wesley."

"Well, it was until I saw you, Eris," Wesley retorted.

"Oh you know who I am," she sounded flattered at first, but quickly changed to angry, "yet you still dare to insult me."

"Let's just say, I've dealt with goddesses far more frightening than yourself. I'd love to stay and chat up a storm, but I think I'd rather keep living, so ciao." Wesley turned to walk away with a wave and didn't stop until he'd left Tartarus. Sora followed. That was both a good thing for them and a bad thing for them, seeing as goddesses love nothing more than revenge.

"Kairi!...Kairi!" Sora shouted through the girl's house when he first arrived.

She came out of a back room, hands behind her back, and responded, "Yes? Sora! You're okay!" After throwing her arms around him in a hug, an urge from the inside prompted her to ask, "Is Roxas with you?"

Sora took a step back and stated disappointedly, "I was hoping he was with you."

"Sora? You left him there?"

Trying to figure how best to put it, Sora explained, "I…I died."

Kairi suddenly looked shocked and confused, so Wesley tried to make things better by interjecting, "I saw Roxas. They were, uh, trying to fix his memory, and it worked for me, so it must be fine…right?"

That calmed her down a little, but she still mentioned anxiously, "But he told us he needed our help." Then, she turned to Sora. "Was that before or after you died?"

"After," Sora answered.

"I still can't believe you died. How are you alive if you were dead? Why didn't Roxas tell us you died?"

"I can't answer the first question, but…Roxas didn't know who I was when I died."

"We all knew something was wrong when he called. Why didn't you mention that at first?"

"I…was…dead," Sora excused obliviously.

"Well, if you knew something was wrong," Wesley noted, defending Sora better than he could, "Why didn't you try to save him?"

"We did actually," Kairi responded, remembering to mention that finally. "Chiyo and Becca and Nehemiah went to find Tia Dalma because he found her. And Nori and everyone went to get Roxas from the Castle."

"When did they leave?" Sora wondered.

Kairi shrugged. "A while ago. They should be done, I think…We should go meet them."

"Meet them?"

"Yes. Vash made a secret hideout for Tia Dalma to stay in. I know where it is. Everyone was going to meet there when they finished their missions. We might be able to find them there."

"Let's go then," Sora decided, walking right back out of the house. Kairi followed—as did Wesley. They grabbed the dirt bikes and she directed them all the way to the hideout.

Sora was surprised, to say the least, when they were met at the door by a snarling boy with a sword. He was about to turn around, thinking it must be the wrong place. Wesley went to draw his sword as well. Thankfully, Tia Dalma—the new one who sat in the background—recognized them.

"Sora," she greeted with her still strangely distorted accent.

"Sora," Hallom repeated, dropping the katana to his side. Now that he knew who they were, he felt bad about threatening them in the first place, but he didn't put it away just in case they were mad at him.

"So good it is to see ye," Tia continued, approaching the door.

"T-Tia Dalma?" Sora asked in confusion. "What happened to you?"

"It ees a disgize," she responded. "Duz it work?"

"You need to work on the voice part, I think," Wesley pointed out.

"Now young Mister Swann," she scolded, grabbing Wesley by the ear, dragging him into the room, and sitting him on a chair, "how deed you get eenvolved een all dis?"

"It was an accident," Wesley answered remorsefully. She glared at him, so he added, "I swear."

"You weel _not_ leave dis room," she ordered.

"Until when?"

"Until I say."

"But Tia!"

"Wesley James Swann, you will _not_ leave dis room."

Wesley looked away, clearly angry, but he'd probably listen to that, no matter how much he'd hate it.

After a second, Hallom muttered, "Wesley Swann? I've…heard of you."

"From where?" Wesley demanded suspiciously.

Taken aback by the harshness, Hallom almost decided not to finish, "Your author."

"Oh yeah? She's weird." And thus, a conversation—or at least half a conversation—was started.

Suddenly, Kairi noticed something. "Well, if you're here, Tia, where's Chiyo and—"

"Dey wuz taken," she interrupted. "By de men in black cloaks."

"Organization XIII," Sora realized. "They're at the Castle now too." Turning to Kairi, he finished, "Let's go."

"Take me with you," Hallom and Wesley both begged.

"No," Tia countered. Then, she added, "You either Sora."

"Well, someone's got to save them," Sora stated. "And who better to save them than the Keymade Blastter!" He ended the sentence with his hand stretched out in the air, a goofy looking, rainbow colored Keyblade extending from it like he didn't realize what he'd said.

Kairi giggled.

"What?"

"You said Keymade Blaster," she laughed. "You're trying to save the world, and you can't even remember your own name."

Slightly embarrassed, Sora repeated, "Let's go. I owe those Nobodies a visit anyways."

"What if I don't want to?"

"Then, stay here. I'm leaving," Sora finished, turning around and leaving the hideout.

"Sora," Kairi called, running after him, "wait for me!"

It was almost day time by the time Sora and Kairi abandoned their bikes at the edge of the forest. Immediately thereafter, they reentered the darkness. Sora didn't remember exactly how to get to the Castle That Never Was, but he remembered the general direction. After only a little Heartless and Hubabaloo slashing—and fifteen minutes longer than the first time—the two arrived at the big green hole.

"Um, Sora," Kairi began unsurely. "How do we get past that?"

"Watch this," Sora bragged, pointing a Keyblade directly to the castle beyond it. Not only did the castle door unlock, but a pathway also appeared, leading them to it. Sora smiled cheesily.

Kairi smiled too and suddenly challenged, "Race ya," as she took off running.

"Stop it Kairi!" Sora shouted, chasing after her. "You're gonna get us—"

Less than a minute later, they were in the cage with Nori, Warren, Chiyo, and Nehemiah.

"Well," Warren commented sarcastically, "it's at least nice to know we're all still…alive."

"It's getting a little crowded in here, don't you think?" Nori noted. "I liked it better when there were just the two of us." If you couldn't tell, by that point, Nori and Warren weren't taking anything seriously.)

Nehemiah was the first to comment, "Sora! You're not in Roxas anymore!"

"Sora!" Another voice called from outside the cage. "You're not dead anymore."

"Yes, " Xemnas explained to Axel, "that would be what happens when you destroy Kingdom Hearts." Axel and Demyx stared blankly at the boy. "You never thought of that, did you?"

Sora giggled and then broke out laughing. "You two destroyed Kingdom Hearts…" He was suddenly clam as he continued, "That explains some things."

Before anything else could be said, a scrunched over, seven foot tall lobster swept furiously into the room. As always, his cloak flowed behind, making him appear more composed and elegant than e actually was. He glanced around the room, breathing heavily as he searched for something. Quickly, he found what he'd been looking for: them.

Storming over to the cage, he stated, "Beautiful. Now that all of them are gathered together, they will be much easier to kill." He laughed evilly.

Everyone in the cage gulped in expectation.

Xemnas was the only one to put up a slight protest, asking, "Here Sir? In your house? It would seem—"

"Silence," Lionel ordered thunderously. "You're running the glory of it. Of course I won't do it here. I have something far more vicious planned. Far more memorable."

Nori looked up at Lionel and realized he knew where they were going.

The captives looked around at their new surroundings. They were on a ledge, stuck between a tall cliff and a deep canyon. On the other side of the canyon, which was fully equipped with an easy escape route, most of Organization XIII and Lionel were preparing to fight. This side of the canyon, not even considering the fact that every single one of them was handcuffed, the friends were far more likely to bombard their enemies with questions than attacks.

"Is this the…" Chiyo began in shock.

"Bottomless Pits of Doom," Nori finished, falling to his butt and repeating over and over, "I can't do it." Though, because he hadn't told anyone the whole story yet, no one understood why he was moping and complaining on the verge of tears.

"What are you doing here?" Warren asked suspiciously to Axel and Demyx who stood next to him, also confined in handcuffs.

Axel grumpily refused to answer, so Demyx explained, "Well, we sorta got in trouble for blowing a hole in Kingdom Hearts."

"Obviously," Warren noted.

"So we've been punished by having to fight on your side."

Warren nodded, slightly satisfied, but expecting to keep his eye on them the whole battle, as Sora added the next inquiry, "Why is Roxas over there?"

This time, Axel explained crossly, "Thanks to you, Nori and Warren, he's been submitted to a procedure which increased his sense of duty, making him want to do nothing but obey the orders of Xemnas."

"What the hell," Warren complained.

"Well that's a way to annoy someone who's trying to rescue their friend," Sora noted, forming a skeleton-ish, crisscrossed Keyblade between his two hands.

"You're going to fight like this?" Axel wondered, sounding slightly nervous.

Sora just raised the Keyblade in the air, and shouted, "Release." Suddenly, eight strands of light came out of it, each one flowing straight to a different person's handcuffs. One by one, they fell to the ground, unlocked. His team all looked to their hands astounded—some of them happy, some of them still too far gone to ever be happy again.

Lionel watched in shock as Sora made a different Keyblade appear in the hands of each of his friends who had no other weapon. Kairi could summon her own Keyblade, but Sora gave Chiyo the Fairy Harp Key—a green one with feathers and stuff. Nehemiah got the Jungle King Key, which was kind of jagged. Nori looked down to see Crabclaw, with a red crab on the end of it, obviously given to him to match his crabby mood. Somehow, he took the hint and stood to his feet.

Aghast, Lionel turned to Xemnas asking, "Did you know they could do that?"

Xemnas hardly even bothered to shrug. "Eventually you get used to it. We still have the advantage of long range attacks," he explained as a cool breeze developed through the canyon. Quickly, it grew to a terrible dust storm preventing anyone from seeing.

Warren looked around for a second and then decided, "Great, let's use this cover to get out of here."

"No don't," Sora warned, looking around suspiciously. When Warren was about five feet on the cliff behind them, Sora suddenly shouted, "watch out!"

Warren turned around to see a lance pointing straight to his back, and Sora trying to hold it back with all his might. After a surprised moment, Warren jumped out of its way, and Sora let it crash into the rock wall.

As the thing disappeared, Sora explained, "That's Xaldin."

Another one flew at the friends, giving Chiyo just barely enough time to deflect it with her Keyblade. She watched in horror as the thing tried of its own mind to find a way around the Keyblade.

"Oh, enough of this," Demyx stated, raising his own hand in the air and forming his sitar.

"You're really going to fight?" Axel questioned.

"This is life or death Number VIII," Demyx replied, clearly serious; though, his joking tone still showed through. "And Xaldin has no idea where those lances are going." Then, he shouted, "Dance water, dance," playing a chord on the instrument. Instantly, seven geysers of burning water shot up on the other side of the canyon. He also, had no idea where they had ended up, but he was satisfied when he heard a scream.

In response to Demyx's attack, a group of heartless appeared to attack them. Sora had fun flipping and slashing for a second, but that ended when Warren just lit them all on fire, seemingly bored. Nehemiah was the first to be taken out, by a shot from Xigbar that he hadn't expected. Next, Larxene shot at the friends with lightning. Sora tried to return the effect, using one of his magic spells, but he couldn't reach across the canyon. Frustrated, he ran to the cliff, jumped up, and grabbed onto a high ledge.

Kairi ran to beneath him. "Sora! What are you doing?"

Still hanging from the ledge, he answered, "We can't do anything against them from here. I need to get up here and jump across there." He pulled himself onto the ledge.

"Don't go Sora," Kairi pleaded as Warren lit another mob of Heartless on fire.

Sora looked down at her and, after a second, stated, "I have to."

She was distracted for a second by another lance, so Sora grabbed another ledge and flipped onto it. He kept climbing until he reached the top of the cliff. From there he looked down and could see everything that was happening. Nori stood there in a complete daze, now being completely protected by Warren. Demyx was still trying to attack the other side. Axel still refused to do anything, and everyone else just protected themselves from the seemingly random attacks.

Glancing over to the other side, he tried to get an idea of what he was about to jump into. Not a single one of them had been injured seriously. Demyx had just barely begun to weaken a few. Once again having to convince himself this was necessary, Sora took a deep breath. Taking a running head start, he jumped off the cliff and toward the other side of the canyon. Since he was still in the air when he reached the other side, he decided to slash at Lionel's head a few times on the way down. It worked well, but he was knocked out of the air prematurely by Marluxia's scythe.

Horrified that he'd been attacked, Lionel shouted, "Kill him!"

Sora sprung to his feet, gripping his Keyblade tighter and swinging with all he had at Marluxia. The little boy with the little key fought the girly man with a giant scythe and bunches of flower petals for quite some time. The rest of the battle continued around them, but they didn't notice anything except each other. No one else bothered them in their battle either. Sora had to jump out of the way of a geyser, but that still didn't distract him from the attack he had been making. To the two of them, they were all that mattered.

Kairi and Chiyo together slashed a lance to pieces, and then a drop of water landed on each of them. They both looked up, along with Warren, Demyx, and Axel. It had suddenly started to rain, and was quickly picking up its rate. A bolt of lightning hit that had not been caused by Larxene, and instantly it began to pour.

Axel elbowed Demyx. "Don't make it rain."

"It's not me," Demyx insisted.

"Then what is it?"

Warren looked at Nori, who was still dumbfounded and curled up in the fetal position on the ground, and stated, "Quit it Nori. Snap out of this now."

"I-I-I can't," he stuttered, rocking back on his heels. A second later, he was laying flat on his face a couple feet towards the canyon.

"You get out there and fight like the rest of us," Warren ordered.

Nori would have stayed right there, except for the fact that he had landed on two very large shoes. He looked up curiously to see Sora scowl. Without giving Nori a chance to think, Sora instantly sliced at him with the Keyblade. Instinctly, Nori blocked it with the Keyblade he still held. It took a few deflections just for to realize he was being attacked by his friend. Not too long after that, the rain cleared as his mood changed. The only good thing that had come from the rain was that it had settled the dust down.

Thus, as Nori questioned, "Sora! What are you doing?" Axel and Demyx were holding their own conversation.

"Sora's here, but…Sora's there," Demyx noted, pointing to the battle between Sora and Marluxia. "What's going on?"

Axel thought for a second. "It can't be the new kid. He's still over there. Besides, Xemnas said he could only imitate living beings…"

"Zexion," they both realized.

Considering he was fighting against a giant farm tool, the real Sora was doing well holding his own. As he went to deflect an attack from Marluxia, however, he noticed another presence behind him. He reached out his open hand to protect himself from the new threat, a regular Kingdom Key appearing in it. A second later, when he got the chance to look, he realized who it was that had attacked him from behind.

"Roxas," Sora began in confusion.

"Why are you fighting us?" Roxas questioned, also confused because his conscience should have been on his side.

"Huh?" Sora asked.

Roxas didn't repeat himself, though. He simply brought out Oathkeeper and Oblivion—his Keyblades—and commenced fighting Sora. Marluxia picked up on it again as well. With both of them attacking him, Sora didn't have time to think of anything. He could only hold his Keyblades above his head to divert their blows.

…And Nori just kept fighting.

…And Sora just kept fighting.

…And Lexaeus got bored. Slamming his Tomahawk down on the ground, he created an earthquake. Nori stumbled, but didn't fall. The Zexion-Sora had been to close to the edge of the canyon, so he tripped off of it. Like Sora, however, after a second he grabbed the edge and pulled himself back up. His figure changed back into Zexion as he did so, which really threw Nori off. He easily toppled Nori to the ground with the Keyblade—which had remained the same—and held it against Nori's throat.

Sora too had lost his footing during the earthquake. As he was about to return to his feet, something unusual fell out of his pocket. Instantly distracted, he picked up the jar with a label that read Saix and examined it.

"How did this get there?" He asked curiously. "I thought—"

His sentence was abruptly ended by a burst of gunfire coming from Xigbar that knocked him to the ground…completely to the ground.


	32. Chapter 31 A new adventure to plan

Those two events symbolized a lot for everyone involved in that battle. For the group of friends—plus Demyx and Axel—it was a sign that they were losing…terribly. For Lionel, it was a sign that he was winning. For four certain Nobodies, Nori's precarious situation was the beginning of the plan.

Xemnas suddenly suggested, "Let's go across and finish them off. Vexen, you know what to do. Number III, stay here and guard Sora. We wouldn't want that denizen of light to escape again."

"How shall we get across?" Lionel wondered, knowing he couldn't jump across the canyon.

"Leave this to us, Sir," Vexen stated. Holding his hands out in front of him, he began using his ice powers to build a bridge across the Bottomless Pits of Doom.

At first, the friends didn't notice it. They were preoccupied by saving Nori. All three of them tried to attack Zexion from the back at once, but he instantly had Vexen's shield in his free hand. Their attacks were completely worthless. Axel was the one who actually saw the quickly growing ice bridge. He rushed to the edge of the canyon and, forming his chackrams in his hands, began to throw balls of fire at the bridge to stop it.

Demyx hurried after him, noting, "Oh, so now you're helping."

"Yeah, well if they get over here, we're all dead," Axel responded, throwing another flame.

Warren realized what was happening, so he stopped worthlessly attacking Zexion to help stop the bridge from growing. By that time, it was a quarter of the way across the canyon (since a few fireballs from Axel couldn't hold it off entirely). With Warren around, the two of their powers could bring the bridge to a virtual standstill. Vexen just put a little more effort into it, and was overcoming their power again.

Demyx stood there, head turned to the side. It was obvious he was thinking of an idea, but it wasn't fully developed yet. Slightly added into that idea was what he knew of Xemnas's plan. One could easily tell when he finally figured out how everything would work. Immediately afterwards, he shot up a geyser of water from the ice bridge.

Axel noticed and barely mentioned, "Thanks," thinking it had been a hot geyser like before. Then, he realized the water was not melting the ice bridge, but instead, making it grow even faster—especially with an added cold breeze from Xaldin. Sarcastically, Axel continued, "Way to go."

"No, you don't understand," Demyx explained. Quietly, he whispered his plan into Axel's ear, explaining why he'd made the bridge grow faster, and what he thought Xemnas's plan might be. Then, he stepped back and finished, "But you can't let them know you know. Keep pretending like you're putting up a fight, all right?"

Axel seemed confused, but he did halfheartedly continue melting away the ice bridge. Warren had no idea what the plan had been, but he still lessened his force a little. Demyx spent the whole time staring across the canyon to Xemnas, looking for a signal as to when to begin. Xemnas seemed slightly confused by Demyx's actions, but, understanding, Vexen smiled. When Xemnas saw Vexen smile, he understood too.

When the bridge was only a couple feet from the edge of the canyon, Lionel brushed past Xemnas, beginning to cross to the other side. Nori looked up nervously at the approaching end. Kairi and Chiyo stopped to look too. After all, Axel or Warren were the only ones who could stop him from coming across, and neither were doing anything.

Warren too was beginning to get nervous, wondering, "What are we doing?"

Axel just stared at Lionel as he drew ever nearer.

As Lionel approached the halfway point, Demyx suggested, "Now Axel."

Still Axel just watched as if he were part of a staring contest.

A moment later, Zexion shouted, "Now Axel!"

Everyone looked to Zexion in shock, including Lionel, but not Axel. Taking Zexion's advice, he quickly built a wall of fire under the bridge. Lionel desperately looked beneath him as the ice began to crack, but from the middle of the canyon, he couldn't get to either side quick enough to escape his tragic fate. The ice broke, and Lionel fell into the Bottomless Pits of Doom.

Kairi and Chiyo raced to the edge to watch him fall, still in disbelief that it had actually happened. Confused, Nori looked up at Zexion, but the Keyblade had disappeared from Zexion's hand. In fact, Zexion didn't appear to be threatening at all, so Nori crawled over to edge too. Lionel quickly faded into the darkness of a never ending fall.

Warren marched over to Zexion demanding, "What just happened?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Zexion responded, "We just helped you win."

"Yes, but what do you get from it? You couldn't have just done this from the kindness of your heart."

"Always the cynical one," Xemnas noted.

"That's why we're all still alive," Warren mentioned.

"In that case," Xemnas continued, "the kingdom."

"What?" Nori demanded, horrified.

"You have your lives, and your precious Tia Dalma back," Xemnas explained, "but what do we get for years of putting up with that man? If it doesn't happen this way, nothing. Not even a slight thank you for being the ones to actually have killed him. You don't want to be king anyways. This way, you can have the light…you can have the glory. All we ask back is to take the position of the man we destroyed. It's not too much to ask is it?"

Nori thought for a very long time before eventually Warren suggested, "Let it go Nori. We can't beat them now. If we need to, we'll do it later."

Zexion formed a portal to their home behind the friends, and Warren turned to walk through it when suddenly Kairi remembered, "What about Roxas?"

"That's right," Nori agreed. "You give him back!"

Warren countered, "Keep him."

Horrified, and surprised, the whole group turned to Warren, so he explained, "You're the only ones who know how to fix him anyways. If you want the kingdom, put him back together, and then let him choose. Let that be your test, to see if you're worthy to rule this land."

The whole organization exchanged glances long enough for Xemnas to agree, "You have a deal," forming his own portal. "Now we go our separate ways." He grabbed a semi-conscious Sora from the ground by his arm and exited the scene.

The group of friends called after them, "Wait! Sora!" It was too late, however; they were gone. Then, all of them glared to Axel and Demyx, who just shrugged and followed Zexion's gesture to another portal.

"Let's go home," Warren suggested, picking Nehemiah up in his arms and heading toward their portal. "We've got a new adventure to plan."

"What now?" Axel demanded, as they found themselves in the meeting room, surrounded by all the remaining members of Organization XIII.

Xemnas simply smiled. "So what did you think?"

"Evil joke," Axel responded, crossing his arms in frustration.

"I suppose we'll have to let you live…Too many of us have died by now. However…I think that showed you enough what it means to cross us. Don't ever do it again. Got it memorized?"

Axel didn't answer, but he looked down, clearly apologetic, as Xemnas continued, "As for you Demyx…You knew the plan from the beginning, so that wasn't really a punishment, now was it? And as far as allowing to choose your own supervision…well, we see where that led. In which case, I decided to assign Lexaeus charge over you, and you the job of refilling Kingdom Hearts." Thus ended their brief meeting.

Axel mocked, "At least we're not dead right?"

Demyx just rolled his eyes.

Sora looked up in shock, suddenly finding himself in a completely empty white room. He immediately ran to the wall, trying to find a way out, but there didn't seem to be one. Frantically, he ran around to random sections of wall, almost like he had a small case of Closter phobia. He was surprisingly thankful to see a portal in the corner reveal Marluxia. Someone was better than nothing. At least, that's what he thought until he tried to summon his Keyblade and nothing happened. Sora fell to his knees, terrified.

Suddenly, he began pleading, "L-let me go. Please."

"Why should we?" Marluxia questioned with a laugh. "You're the one boy we've always wanted to capture…We let you go, and all our plans are just washed away." He gestured to the side.

After thinking for a while, Sora scooted closer to Marluxia, still on his knees, and stated, "I have something to exchange." Out of his pocket, he pulled the jar of Saix, handing it to Marluxia who examined it for quite some time. "All five of them," Sora added.

"Where did you get this?" Marluxia questioned.

Just like that, Sora was set free, in a random city street someplace in _**Fiction-Land**_ he had never visited before. Marluxia must have just figured they could catch him again some other time, especially if they could find a way to bring back the five lost members using their remains. By that point, Sora didn't care what they did with the five jars. He just wanted to be home. Unexpectedly, he had the sensation that someone was following him. He turned around to look behind him but saw nothing. The feeling continued for almost a minute before Eris appeared before him.

"Come with me," she ordered smoothly, grabbing his arm.

"What?" He demanded, clearly confused as he tried to shake her off, "Why?"

"Where are my five jars?" She answered with a smile that meant, _I can't believe you didn't remember._

"Nuh-uh," Sora said dumbly as he finally realized why she was there, "you gave those to me! I was going to leave them there."

"So _you_ don't want to come back then? Then, you owe me five bodies," she mentioned, stroking his chin. "And just so you won't forget…" She held out one finger, and Sora's body returned to the awkward stage from the year before, clothes and all. Smiling as he looked down in confusion, she finished, "Bring me my bodies."

Somewhere clear across _**Fiction-Land**_, a giant claw reached out of a deep, dark canyon.

* * *

**THE END!!! **

Don't worry, there will be a sequel. :) **  
**


End file.
